Random YouTube Find of the Moment: How not to replace a top guy

In 1989, "The Pearl of the Orient" The Great Muta was one of the hottest acts in the wrestling business as part of the amazing year that WCW had.  He was incredibly charismatic, a great athlete who moved fast while doing cool moves, and feuded with the perfect opponent in Sting.  After a split with (real-life and on-screen) manager Gary Hart, he was jobbed out and left the company.  Ostensibly, someone panicked several months later when they realized what they lost, so they decided to create a new Muta in the form of The Pearl.  The Pearl was undercard wrestler Ranger Ross, who had been inactive for a few months.  Dressed in a way that would evoke Muta while also hiding the fact that Ross was a black guy, not Japanese.  In fairness, maybe he wasn't supposed to be Japanese since he was billed as being from "origins unknown."  He proceeded to have an overly long squash match with jobber Joe Cazana where he did some of Muta's mannerisms and a few of his moves: A handspring elbow (which kinda missed), a really long nervehold, and the moonsault, which didn't look close to as smooth as Muta's.  The gimmick was immediately dropped and neither Ranger Ross nor The Pearl ever appeared in WCW again.  Muta eventually returned as a special attraction who showed up from time to time, but Ross eventually became a bank robber ("The Motorcycle Bandit") and went to prison.