Charles Wright: Papa Shango, Kama....

[mrhexum]

I was recently taking a look at the "Where are they now?" section on the WWE website and came across the article on Charles Wright aka "Papa Shango" , "Kama", "the Godfather". and "the Goodfather". So, I thought it would be cool to ask the old school guys:

Which of his gimmicks was your favorite?
Did you enjoy his in ring work?
And any other thoughts, comments?

I personally enjoyed his "Papa Shango" days the best. I remember seeing him at a house show as a youngster and was legit scared. He honestly freaked me out more than the Undertaker. He also delivered some pretty memorable momets for me. Setting some poor jobbers boots on fire, the black goo and puke curse he put on the Ultimate Warrior which led to a great chuckle when he "put the curse" on "Mene" Gene, but due to Genes baldness the goo had to come from his hand..hahaha....

The Godfather would be my next pick, but, for me it was his Shango run..

I look forward to hearing from you guys... thanks for the read and time.

 

[Smarty Jannetty]

My personal favourite was Papa Shango, I wish he had been around longer. Very gimmicky idea but I think they could have made him great.

 

[Rockyfolifebo!!!]

My personal fav. was The Godfather. He was so over with the fans. When he came out , he had his hat and his cane. Then, the crowd would boo him until he turned around and signaled for dozens of "hos" to come out to the ring! His moveset was very impressive. Plus, he had catchphrases: "Pimpin' ain't easy" "Light one up for the Godfather" and "Come get on the HOOOOOOOOOOO Train!" He was an easily loveable character. He played that role to a T!

 

[byrnside]

In all honesty I actually liked his "Supreme Fighting Machine" gimmick. He had a pretty nice feud with The Undertaker and when he resurfaced later in the Nation of Domination I was pretty interested in that. Although I quickly lost interest in him, he soon evolved into The Godfather which was probably his most successful gimmick and probably my favorite.. All aboard the HOOOOOOOOO TRAIINNNNN was definitely a favorite catch phrase of mine in 1999.

 

[EastCoastFan]

Most people will probably go for the Godfather, especially because of the long line of lovely ladies he brought to the ring with him. I know Charles Wright said that that was his favorite persona, with "The Goodfather" of Right To Censor being his least favorite.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

I was really digging papa shango, he fit the look perfectly and as a kid I too was legit scared. Godfather grew on me, though I enjoyed it too, particularly with all his hoes (I wonder if any of the hoes turned into divas?) But overall, I'd say shango was the best, it was over the top, gimmicky, but he pulled it off perfectly. The only thing was his in ring work wasn't that great so it was a great character for promos etc, but his matches weren't great until he started putting some voodoo curse on them, which back then i totally bought haha

 

[The Crock]

The Godfather was, in my opinion, his best gimmick. While the Papa Shango gimmick allowed for a feud with the Ultimate Warrior (and what a terrible feud it was), it didn't have the same connection with the fans that the "Godfather" gimmick had. The "nice ladies" he brought to the ring, coupled with the edgy nature of The Godfather got him over big with the fans, and he's still remembered by fans to this day. Every so often, The Godfather and his Ho Train will still pop up on WWE programming, only showing how much the fans really loved the gimmick.

His biggest achievement, arguably of his whole career, was winning the Intercontinental Championship as The Godfather. There's no doubt in my mind, out of all the gimmicks he's had, this was THE one. To further prove my point, look at the Papa Shango gimmick. While it had its moments, such as the aforementioned Ultimate Warrior feud, it was named the Worst Gimmick in 1992 by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and Wright also earned the Worst Wrestler and Worst Feud "awards" that year. The Shango gimmick, is in reality, nothing but one of the most overrated gimmicks of its time.

 

[Aaron_AKA_THEBIGSHOW]

for your question lita was a hoe who turned into a diva
and for the OP i would say godfather just because he was over really good at that time

 

[Hardcore Heathen]

I Believe Victoria Was a "Hoe" Too Although im Not 100% on It.

 

[MMK]

Papa Shango was set to return in 1994. In the storyline, it was to be revealed that Bob Backlund was the victim of a Papa Shango voodoo curse. That was going to be the explanation for Backlund's descent into madness. But Backlund got so over playing his crazy old man character that they scrapped the idea and Charles was given a new gimmick: "The Supreme Fighting Machine" Kama.

Shango was one of my favorites back in 92. It's a shame he and Undertaker never worked a major program. They were supposed to in the summer of 92, but that role ended up going to a recently rehired Kamala. Kamala was only rehired so that WWE could avoid a lawsuit he had filed against them. In exchange for Jim "Kamala" Harris dropping the suit, WWE agreed to rehire him. And so, most of the feuds Shango was supposed to be involved in ended up going to Kamala due to the similar nature of their characters.

So that's at least 2 major feud/storylines that Papa Shango ended up having taken away from him. Talk about bad luck. It's as if someone put a curse on him. lol.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I think Shango never got over the botched finish at WM8... he missed his cue and screwed up the finish, meaning Sid had to kick out of the legdrop, it didn't help that Warrior's return was so much of a bobomb but it coupled with the aforementioned Kamala stuff kinda stalled the momentum of the character... I heard the Backlund story as being Owen originally, had Owen not gone over as a heel as well as he did that they would use Shango to turn him back and excuse his turn on Bret...

 

[Zuper-Man]

this question is literally the equivalence of "which gimmick was better? stunning steve austin, ringmaster, or stone cold?" you may have an idiot out of 100 that chooses anything but the obvious. Papa Shango was more "main event" than The Godfather, but as far as gimmicks and over-ness go, there is simply no contest. Godfather by a country mile. I mean, the guy was almost like Santino in the sense that he never had to win to get over. He was consistently one of my favorite segments to watch, and is one of the major nostalgic memories of the attitude era for me. Papa Shango is about as relevant as an AOL free trial CD.

 

[LODemolition]

For me, it was Papa Shango by far. I enjoyed his feud with The Ultimate Warrior and the angle where he put the curse over him. I also have to say that I've met a lot of pro wrestlers in the parking lot before a house show, and he was one of the rudest I can ever remember.

 

[the_mighty_biggs]

Papa Shango for sure as a kid he was cool as hell and I remember being real pissed off he was only on the sega genessis version of the game royal rumble and I had a super nintendo.

 

[bigandpissed]

Im gonna have to go with the Good Father from Right To Censor.that was probably the fastest i've seen a beloved face instantly turn to a hated heel (besides hogan).

 

[TheSoulTaker]

I'll do ya one better...back in the USWA days he was known as the Soultaker. Pretty much a precursor to his Papa gimmick. All the same stuff the hat, face paint and staff; hence my name!

 

[ECW Sandman]

It has to be Papa Shango He Scared the living hell out of me when I was younger now looking back some of the stuff he did was stupid the black ink in Mean Gene's wrist but my favorite one was when he would light the jobbers boots on fire.

 

[LighthouseLegal]

Papa Shango was set to return in 1994. In the storyline, it was to be revealed that Bob Backlund was the victim of a Papa Shango voodoo curse. That was going to be the explanation for Backlund's descent into madness. But Backlund got so over playing his crazy old man character that they scrapped the idea and Charles was given a new gimmick: "The Supreme Fighting Machine" Kama.

Shango was one of my favorites back in 92. It's a shame he and Undertaker never worked a major program. They were supposed to in the summer of 92, but that role ended up going to a recently rehired Kamala. Kamala was only rehired so that WWE could avoid a lawsuit he had filed against them. In exchange for Jim "Kamala" Harris dropping the suit, WWE agreed to rehire him. And so, most of the feuds Shango was supposed to be involved in ended up going to Kamala due to the similar nature of their characters.

So that's at least 2 major feud/storylines that Papa Shango ended up having taken away from him. Talk about bad luck. It's as if someone put a curse on him. lol.

Why did Kamala sue WWE? What was the lawsuit about?

 

[vampirek]

for your question lita was a hoe who turned into a diva
and for the OP i would say godfather just because he was over really good at that time

Lita was never one of Godfather's hoes, the only time she had anything to do with them was when Essa Rios was caught with them, leading to that separation and the formation of Team Xtreme.

You are confusing Lita with Victoria, which to the poster below you I can confirm it was Victoria.

Back to the Charles Wright, the Godfather gimmick was the only one that got him over. All of the other gimmicks prior to this failed heavily. The Goodfather was good for the short time and played well into mocking the complaint groups.

 

[DML960]

Papa Shongo and Kama i liked best, but the Godfather fans loved to see the ho's so that was his most famous i guess.

 

[bonded_by_bud]

I thought Charles was a very charismatic individual it just took the right vehicle (Godfather) to bring it out of him. Shango was genius too he got over in a completely different way. His in ring work was solid, in fact one of my favorite tag teams of the attitude era was him and Dlo as the pimp in training, that was gold to watch. As for his hoes, some did become legit divas. I remember hearing about a mandate that should a hoe be used once or twice and want to become a steady employee they were given the ultimatum to learn to wrestle or get lost. Bobcat was one of them even though she didn't last long with the company, and I believe the other one was none other then Victoria aka Tara. In wrestling games today I still download The Godfather or Papa Shango for my rosters.

 

[The Brain]

Wow I was thinking about making this exact thread just last night. I figured it had been a while since I created a random old school thread and the many gimmicks of Charles Wright was going to be the topic.

I’m going to be the minority here, which isn’t all that unusual, and go with Kama the Supreme Fighting Machine. I loved Papa Shango when I was 12 years old but even then I knew a character like that could only go so far. Kama Mustafa in the Nation of Domination was ok but he was clearly just a sidekick role player. There’s no denying the Godfather’s popularity in 1999 but that character got old quickly in my opinion. It’s funny how people complain about the same old same old today but they don’t realize their heroes of the attitude era were just on auto replay. The Godfather said the exact same thing every week and as I said it got old quickly to me. Right to Censor was a pretty good gimmick but like he was as Kama Mustafa, Wright was back to being a role player.

Out of all the gimmicks the Supreme Fighting Machine seemed to have the most potential. Kama was believable as the Supreme Fighting Machine. He just looked like a badass fighter. He kind of reminded me of that Russian from StreetFighter 2. The character only lasted about a year and wasn’t as successful as the Godfather but it was the most enjoyable to me. I think Kama’s matches against Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker at King of the Ring and SummerSlam were better than anything I ever saw the Godfather do. Most people automatically shit on anything from 1995 but the Supreme Fighting Machine was a good gimmick.

 

[wrestling89]

I remember seeing Papa Shango, and just thinking about Rasta the Voodoo Mon in the GWF. I thought it was a cool gimmick, but since Rasta came out months before Papa Shango, I just kind of saw it as a rip off.

Rasta the Voodoo Mon was a badass, I wonder what happened to him.

 

[MMK]

Why did Kamala sue WWE? What was the lawsuit about?

It was over LJN licensing agreements. Vince and WWF released LJN action figures in the 80's. Kamala's toy was one of the top selling figures but Jim "Kamala" Harris only got 1/4 of a penny per doll. It's kind of sad, but after all those years in the business, he didn't make a lot of money. He wasn't paid well his first time around in WWF even after all the main event matches he was in.

In most cases, back then merchandise contracts would be the only contract most wrestlers had ever read or signed. A lot of them, including Kamala, were very naive in the mid 1980's when merchandise deals came along. And Vince was interested in smartening the wrestlers up either.
The problem wrestlers like Kamala had was that they didn't have lawyers and the WWF knew they could take advantage of their lack of business knowledge to profit. They took what was offered, were told it was this or nothing, and weren't sophisticated enough in a business or negotiating sense to do much about it other than accept the bad terms.

So in exchange for him dropping the lawsuit, Vince rehired him in 92. Kamala was in need of money so he went back to work. Although at Summerslam 92, according to Kamala, he still only made a few thousand dollars, while his opponent, the Undertaker, was being paid somewhere around a million. So there was still a big discrepency in pay

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I think that if one looks back he will find that none of Charles Wright's gimmicks were too bad. I mean Papa Shango looks childish but then it's more or less the same thing that Winter is doing in TNA. Also Undertaker had debuted at that time and was making a name for himself in a supernatural gimmick. Kama Mustafa isn't too bad if you consider the fact that Kozlov had a nice run with a similar gimmick and that Wright was known as a genuine tough guy. Godfather was over as fuck during the Attitude Era and Goodfather was a part of a pretty nice parody. I often wonder how a more talented guy would have fared with the Papa Shango and Kama Mustafa gimmicks.

His most successful character was obviously the Godfather and in hindsight it must have been his weakest character. The Godfather was entirely about the Ho Train and getting a cheap pop. He did win an Intercontinental Championship through those cheap pops only but the midcard title did not mean a lot in 1999. Once again in hindsight I would have to agree with Brain that Kama Mustafa did have a lot of potential and did participate in better matches than he is given credit for but I did not see the character live so I would say that Godfather was certainly his most entertaining gimmick.