Well, owing to its massive popularity and prominence on a global level, numerous wrestling companies from all across the world have made repetitive attempts to copy the characters from the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) company. While these iconic WWE characters have received enormous praise and garnered an unimaginable fan base, their copied versions have failed to an unprecedented extent while trying to impress hardcore wrestling fans from all across the world.
In this article we will take a look at the top four wrestling companies who tried to copy the iconic WWE characters and failed miserably during their attempts.
Top 4 Wrestling Companies who Copied WWE Characters and Failed
The Renegade
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) introduced Rick Wilson, popularly referred to by his ring name “The Renegade” in 1995, as a copied character of WWE’s Hulk Hogan. Although WCW left no stone unturned in creating unimaginable hype for Rick Wilson among the fans of wrestling, he failed to capture the attention of the hardcore wrestling aficionados.
While fans were anticipating Rick Wilson to recreate the dominating aura of WWE’s Hulk Hogan, he failed inside the ring and was ultimately released by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Later in 1999, Rick Wilson allegedly committed suicide due to severe depression.
Shark Boy
At the second spot in our list of the top four wrestling companies who failed miserably while trying to copy the iconic WWE characters, we have Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling Company, which introduced Shark Boy as a major parody of the legendary WWE character Steve Austin. Although the Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling company anticipated Shark Boy, directly inspired by the iconic WWE character Steve Austin, he turned out to be a major flop among the fans.
The audience ended up looking upon Shark Boy as a gimmick parody, instead hailing him as a mainstream wrestling character. Therefore, although Shark Boy left no stone unturned in copying Steve Austin’s reigning aura inside the ring, he failed to impress the hardcore wrestling aficionados.
Lance Archer
Next, at the third spot in our list of the top four wrestling companies who tried to copy the iconic WWE characters and failed miserably during their attempts, we have the All Elite Wrestling (AEW) company, which positioned Lance Archer as a dark and intimidating powerhouse with long hair and black attire in an attempt to impersonate the legendary WWE character, the Undertaker.
Well, although Lance Archer held a lot of potential to capture an enormous fan base with his spooky storyline, the AEW company shockingly never allowed him an opportunity to maintain consistency inside the ring. Wrestling aficionados from all over the world quoted Lance Archer to be “All looks, no direction” as he tried to impersonate the iconic WWE character, the Undertaker, and failed miserably.
Eric Young
Finally, at the fourth spot in our list of the top four wrestling companies who failed miserably while trying to copy the iconic WWE characters, we have Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling company which tried to rebrand Eric Young as WWE’s main character, Daniel Bryan. Often hailed as one of the most prominent wrestlers of the Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling company, Eric Young made combatant attempts to chase Daniel Bryan’s underdog world title run and his unmatched era inside the ring.
In order to make fans resonate with Eric Young, the TNA forced him to undergo a complete makeover and rebranded the wrestler with a full beard, intense eyes, and grittier look — just weeks after Daniel Bryan won the WWE title at WrestleMania XXX (2014). Although it was supposed to be one of the major game-changing moves for TNA, it unfortunately turned out to be a blunder for the wrestling company as he ended up losing his popularity among the fans due to their constant gimmicks.
