Does the WWE need another Godfather character?

[CM Steel]

Two weekends ago at the Royal Rumble pay per-view in Phoenix, AZ. We saw the one-time only appearance of the Godfather! He got a standing pop from the adult side of the WWE universe, not their kids. When the Godfather came down that walkway with his two hoes it was a major attitude era flashback for us all! But the Godfather got eliminated from the rumble match by Dolph Ziggler in one second, wtf? We were all pissed at that.

With the WWE now being the WWE-PG. Will we ever see the Godfather and his hoes again in this wrestling era? Or how bout the WWE create another Godfather type character with a wrestling star. Some one like...Elijah Burke aka The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero! If the WWE re-hires Burke he could come back to the E as The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero or "The Pope" Elijah Burke. It's just a shame that the WWE released him the way they did. I think if Elijah Burke had some one to fight for him backstage he could have still been in the E. He could have been a step or two above both Kofi Kingston and R-Truth.

But would the WWE-PG still be open to re-introduce a Godfather-like character little alone re-hire Elijah Burke?

 

[waylonmercy]

WWE is NEVER going to introduce a risky character like that into the WWE while they are PG and Bruno is associated with them. Look at all the good WWE has had from a business standpoint since going PG. They have attracted respectable sponsors, they are not garnering the same negative publicity as they did during the PG era, the company I believe is still very profitable and that is all what is important to them.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I really don't think the WWE is going to introduce a PIMP character when they are as family-friendly as they are right now, it just wouldn't work or be suitable for their current target audience.

FFS the man had a "train" of prostitutes following him to the ring and talked about "Rolling a fatty for this pimp daddy"...not exactly PG is it?

I would love to see a character of this sort make a return to the 'E, but it ain't happenin' son.

 

[#hamler]

Isn't Brodus pretty much the Godfather's PG version?

I'm going with this. Although a very watered down version, Brodus is pretty much what you can expect as a pimp in the WWE nowadays. Not that there's anything wrong with that; because there isn't. If I remember correctly, Godfather amounted to nothing but a short Intercontinental Championship reign during his days on the active roster. He stirred too much controversy even in an era full of it. There isn't a need for Godfather character return. If you ask me, he was nothing short of the Attitude Era's Santino (without all the controversy); a comedic character who you can never take seriously who is surprisingly over with the crowd. I can't really imagine why the WWE would want to recreate a character when they clearly have someone equally as over and equally as goofy in Santino Marella.

 

[Wally Dangerously]

I can see it now.... Ryder grows a mustache too, starts walking around in a velvet bath robe, talking on an old-school 80's cell phone with a huge antenna, has two hoeski escorts who roll out shag carpet for the "All-Nite Ryder" wherever he walks, and he starts hanging out with Sean Waltman. Brilliance!

No, honestly, I don't see any kind of pimp/jigalow/sleazeball gimmick coming back anytime soon either. Unfortunately, it just doesn't fit the TVPG mold.

 

[DX Mols]

As much as I loved the Ho Train back in the day, I doubt it would fly in today's boring PG environment. I mean @ the Rumble, poor Papa Shango got two ugly hoes and he didn't even get to enter the damn match.

A wasted spot in my opininon aside from the nostalgia pop.

Still better then the 2012 Rumble where at least 10 spots were wasted on Lawler, Cole, Sucka T, Epico, Primo, Hunico, Khali, Brotunga, etc.

 

[Pedigree1]

When the Godfather came out i screamed HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Train! As much as i would love to see a godfather character make a return its not gonna happen. For all the reasons that people listed its PG era and i dont think the sponsors would be too pleased with that idea.

Us grownups that witnessed that was truly a magical time for all of us. I loved the kids expression when the Godfather came out! They had zero idea of who he was or is and us grownups acted like our children. I wish it would happen but a godfather character wont ever come back. Brodus Clay for the record is not even universally close to a godfather character and really im sick of the dancing shit that he does. He is beyond this

 

[Dirk]

To quote DBry:
"What you just saw in the ring right now, I kicked Eddie Kingston as hard as I possibly could and that was PG, OK?"

There are loads of other ways to have a "Godfather" type character without having to lowbrow it up.

The man could have a his own cheerleaders instead of strippers and offer movie dates or something PG instead of "usage".

Now I'm just spitballing here, but the Prime Time Players have lots of dough, so maybe it could tie-in there somewhere?

Having just said all that, Pope Angelo didn't get all that over in TNA. Maybe it was his gimmick, maybe not.

 

[theBec2101]

no they do not. why do they need someone going around kicking people in the head and taking legends out. Plus that is Orton's gimmick.

 

[BTLion1990]

Didn't JBL refer to his hoe's as ''Rat Pack''. There is no way a Godfather type gimmick is wanted or needed in this era. It's family friendly. I do not think HHH sold Bruno Sammartino on the pg era for a new pimp to come down the ring with his skanks. He was relevant and entertaining for the Attitude Era, not this.

Also, how is Brodus like the Godfather? All he does is dances. Sure he has two women with him but in no way are they meant to be his hoes and he's a pimp. They JUST dance! Dude Love used to dance and be associated with women, NOTHING like the Godfather.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I never really saw the need for a Godfather character during the Attitude Era, let alone in this day and age.

In most cases, The Godfather character reminds me a lot of Brodus Clay. Basically, Charles Wright plays a character that comes out wearing some sort of flashy outfit, is a big guy, dances around with women and has a generally jovial attitude. Brodus Clay does the same thing. The biggest differences are that Wright would dance in the ring with local strippers that worked in whatever region Raw happened to be in that night and he'd say words like "ho" and "pimpin'".

A pimp wrestling character in this day and age probably wouldn't work anyhow. Society today is at an extreme when it comes to being politically correct. Even though Wright's character was about as far from an actual pimp as I am from being a Nobel Prize winning physicist. Wright wasn't in there swearing every other word or making veiled or not so veiled threats or smacking his "hos" around, etc. Couldn't get away with that in wrestling during the Attitude Era, let alone today. Hell, people shit themselves Raw just because CM Punk & Paul Heyman "mocked" Jerry Lawler's heart attack in a planned angle that'd gotten the seal of approval and encouragement weeks earlier from Lawler himself, so they're not going to tolerate a "pimp" of any sort.

The Godfather is really one of those characters during the Attitude Era that lent an aspect of sleaze to pro wrestling, and I don't mean that in a good way. The character was harmless, but still kinda sleazy.

 

[Big Papa Santo]

Two weekends ago at the Royal Rumble pay per-view in Phoenix, AZ. We saw the one-time only appearance of the Godfather! He got a standing pop from the adult side of the WWE universe, not their kids. When the Godfather came down that walkway with his two hoes it was a major attitude era flashback for us all! But the Godfather got eliminated from the rumble match by Dolph Ziggler in one second, wtf? We were all pissed at that.

With the WWE now being the WWE-PG. Will we ever see the Godfather and his hoes again in this wrestling era? Or how bout the WWE create another Godfather type character with a wrestling star. Some one like...Elijah Burke aka The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero! If the WWE re-hires Burke he could come back to the E as The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero or "The Pope" Elijah Burke. It's just a shame that the WWE released him the way they did. I think if Elijah Burke had some one to fight for him backstage he could have still been in the E. He could have been a step or two above both Kofi Kingston and R-Truth.

But would the WWE-PG still be open to re-introduce a Godfather-like character little alone re-hire Elijah Burke?

You're asking two separate questions here, but I'll try to answer them both.

On the topic of another Godfather-esque character ever gracing a WWE ring again, no. I hate to sound like that guy who blames everything on WWE being PG, since I despise those people, but it has nothing to do with the WWE's TV rating. We live in a different era, an era of political correctness where even the slightest jab at race, religion, or in this case, gender, is like jumping into a pool of sharks. And it's not just The Godfather that wouldn't work on TV nowadays but pretty much every memorable star from the Attitude Era. Original D-X wouldn't work, for obvious reasons. (I'm not talking about the watered down, late 2000s reincarnation that always tried to be "edgy") The Nation of Domination wouldn't work, because a whole group of angry oppressed black superstars is "Racist" (Although in WWE's defenses, it's not as hard to be a black superstar as it was back then, because now they don't incorporate race into every black superstars character) And don't get me started on Val Venis, Sexual Chocolate, or Stone Cold. So since the pimp character is out the equation, I do think that a womanizing lady's man character would work well. We've already seen lite versions of this type of character just over the past couple of years, and its a good way to get the divas that barely get any airtime shown on TV. So my shortened answer is: A pimp character in today's WWE? Not a chance. But a lady's man? Yes.

Now on to your question within a question (Call Christopher Nolan, I just thought of a new movie idea) About a possible Elijah Burke return, well.....no. I can see why some people (Like yourself) admire Elijah, but I personally don't care for him. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy him in ECW, but I don't see any place for him in the WWE, and most of the casual fans won't even remember him. And before you say, "But you should see his TNA stuff, he's gotten so much better!" Well, I don't watch TNA nor do I have any interest in starting. To me, Burke was just another vanilla, really athletic superstar not unlike Shelton Benjamin or Jack Swagger. (I actually really like Benjamin, but I'm not going to be blinded by my fandom and try to say that he was going to be a future world champion, the guy had a lot of areas to improve on)

So the answer to both of your questions, is nada.

 

[harrythem]

If by Godfather character you mean the ability to take someone with very little talent/mediocre charisma and turn them into a viable member of the roster that gets a huge crowd pop (for his entrance at least. His matches were shit and the silence that happened during them showed that) then, yes, the WWE needs one.

If you mean an actual pimp character then, no, the WWE doesn't need one. For all the money that a low-card comedy act like that could draw, it will be far outweighed by the money that all the Bruno merch will make...which only is happening because WWE got away from that type of character...a fair trade I'd say!

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

I think a lot of people need to realize that the character was risqué and kinda like jersey shore, most of the attitude era undercard was. You had a pimp and a pornstar. These guys weren't really that talented. The rest of the undercard was in garbage punch/kick/throw a trash can at a guy matches. Why? Because they weren't that talented. If you need sleazy characters, blood, boobs, and cussing to get over, you're not a very good pro wrestler. If that's what you like, maybe you're not really a pro wrestling fan.

 

[Dilligaf]

As much as it was nice to see Godfather for his "one time" return, TBH the spot was wasted on him, Id have prefered to see JBL get into the RR this year.

Did anyone else notice how the "Ho's" were dressed, a lot more tamed down & a little elegant than we've seen them in the past, I can remember the WM2000 tag team match with D-Lo as his partner and that one ho in the pink shorts and pink boob tube barely containing her breasts.