Why is secondary succession less successful in tropical rainforests?

Well maybe because they are way more complex and completely rebuilding one would take a long time. And since it takes such a long time other things can happen like deforestation

Continental Drift is the theory that seeks to explain such phenomena as the discovery of fossil collections of similar species on two continents that are widely separated. Continental Drift theory states that the continents were once connected to one another and over time because of shifts in the tectonic plates the continents shifted a part. Thus certain species once lived in the same area which were then separated by the shifting of the continents.