An... 'interesting' theory I've seen about Paper Mario 2...

[CM30]

Well, I don't believe it myself, but it's certainly one to think about none the less.

Basically, some people believed/joked that Lord Crump from Paper Mario could be a brainwashed Wario, similar to how Luigi was turned into Mr L in the sequel. There's certainly a few appearance similarities:

And his battle abilities do kind of reflect that (outside of the giant robots).

But hey, what do you think?

 

[Just a Wario Fan]

Nah, not really. But it could be a reference.

 

[TB100]

I've never played the Thousand Year Door, (I do own the game, but I don't own a Gamecube or an Original Wii. I did own the two, but The Wii got replaced by a new black Wii and then that got replaced by the Wii U, and the Gamecube got stolen) But I watched a YouTube video of the fight, and while he does have some minor similarities to Wario both in design and attacks, they are in no way the same character. (Nintendo would had made it more obvious and a bigger deal, if this was the case.)

 

[The 3rd Wario Brother]

Miyamoto doesn't care enough for it to be a wario reference.

 

[Koopaul]

Miyamoto had almost no involvement in Paper Mario 2.

 

[Robin]

Miyamoto had almost no involvement in Paper Mario 2.

That why we have these:

 

[Koopaul]

That's why the game is more dark and story based than most Mario games too.