20 Wrestling Gimmicks That Got WEIRD Rip-Offs
8. Chyna (Asya)
You wouldn't think this writer was a hardcore WCW fan considering some of the material included here, but he is. He also recognises that a smalltime mentality and rampant backstage disorganisation held the promotion back time and time again. For example, the time bodybuilder Christi Wolf changed her name to "Asya". Why Asya? Well, get this.
Asia is a continent. Meanwhile, China is a country. Over in the WWF at the time, Chyna had been earning rave reviews for her work as part of D-Generation X and had blossomed into a standalone star. Looking to mimic that (but better, apparently), WCW positioned Wolf as superior to Chyna. 'Asia is bigger than China'. Get it? Good grief.
No-one was shocked that this didn't work out. Chyna wasn't Kurt Angle inside the ring, but she was one million times the worker Asya was. In fairness, Wolf was coming from a bodybuilding background and probably hadn't been trained properly before somebody looked at her physique and yelled, 'PUT HER ON TV NOW!'. Asya was rushed into things as part of a Ric Flair storyline in early-1999, then became part of The Revolution faction later that same year.
She never showed an aptitude for the biz at all and was released by the summer of 2000 following various alliances and storylines that went nowhere. It was bold as brass of WCW to try the Asya thing in the first place. They knew fans would make the comparison with Chyna - WCW wanted them to. What they didn't want was for those same people to realise that the WWF's original was infinitely better.
Oops.