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Charles Wright (wrestler)

Charles Wright (born May 16, 1961 in Las Vegas, Nevada) is an American businessman and retired professional wrestler. He is probably best known for his time spent with the World Wrestling Federation throughout the 1990s and early 2000s under the ring names Papa Shango, Kama, Kama Mustafa, The Godfather and The Goodfather. He also went to college at The University of Nevada, Reno. where he played football.

After leaving the wrestling business he moved to Las Vegas, where he manages a number of strip clubs.

Career

Beginnings

Wright first entered professional wrestling after being noticed tending bar by wrestlers during the filming of the movie Over the Top. The wrestlers involved gave him the advice that, with his large body type and unique (tattooed) look, he should try seeking out Larry Sharpe and his Monster Factory to get into the business.

United States Wrestling Association (1989)

Eventually Wright parlayed his training into a job with Jerry Lawler in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) with the gimmick the wrestlers from the bar had given him and took the name The Soultaker, taken from one of the tattoos on his arm. Even with his admitted limited skill set, he was given the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship on October 23, 1989 and held it for about two weeks.

World Wrestling Federation (1991–1993)

After brief stints in Japan and other American independent promotions Wright was brought in to World Wrestling Federtation (WWF) at the suggestion of his friend The Undertaker. He wrestled briefly at house shows as Sir Charles, a play on both his real name and the nickname of National Basketball Association player Charles Barkley. The character was hardly used and wasn't able to be developed, and even when talking about it later Wright only remembers wearing robes he purchased from another wrestler to the ring.

In January 1992, he was repackaged as Papa Shango, a voodoo practitioner patterned on the character Baron Samedi from the Bond film Live and Let Die. The character carried a skull to the ring billowing smoke and could control arena lights, allowing for strange goings on in the ring, and later could "cast spells" to cause opponents pain to and make them vomit from afar. Papa Shango was thrust into the spotlight almost immediately, running in on the Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice main event at WrestleMania VIII to jump start a feud between himself and Ultimate Warrior. Shango actually missed his cue to run in, hitting the ring late. The finish was supposed to be Sid getting disqualified because of Shango breaking up the pinfall attempt by Hogan after Hulk hit the big legdrop. However due to Shango getting to the ring late, Sid was forced to kick out of the legdrop to save face. Sid's manager, Harvey Wippleman then jumped on the apron, and the referee signalled for the disqualification at that point as Shango was just getting to the ring.

At the same time as he was wrestling as Papa Shango in the WWF, the WWF had a working agreement with USWA. As part of the agreement Papa Shango was sent to wrestle in USWA, where he won the Unified World Heavyweight Championship for a second time. Winning the title actually upset him, as he felt it was only done to sell to the predominately black crowd, and after complaining to management he dropped the belt to Owen Hart. He left the company soon after and returned to bar tending.

World Wrestling Federation (1995; Second run)

During the autumn of 1994, there were rumors that the Papa Shango character would be brought back to participate in a storyline involving Bob Backlund, wherein Shango's voodoo spells would explain the traditionally good-natured Backlund's erratic and villainous behavior. This never came into fruition. Wright would eventually return to the WWF in 1995 as Kama "The Supreme Fighting Machine", a shoot fighter who joined Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation stable shortly after his debut. He became an immediate part of the stables feud with The Undertaker, stealing the Undertaker's signature urn and having it melted down into a necklace, only to lose it back to him at SummerSlam. After SummerSlam, Wright left the company again.

World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (1997–2002; Third run)

Wright was asked to return in 1997, with the original plans being for him to revive the Papa Shango character, but that plan was never completed with the inception of Kane, another supernatural character. Instead he was turned into Kama Mustafa and placed into the Nation of Domination, which was in the process of becoming an all black group and on the verge of feuding with the all white Disciples of Apocalypse and all Puerto Rican Los Boricuas. Around mid 1998 after the Rock became the leader of the stable, it was renamed to the Nation. Kama also became the Godfather.

In 1998, The Godfather (known to wrestlers as a genuine tough guy) competed in the WWF Brawl For All, which was a strictly voluntary boxing/shoot fighting competition, eventually won by Bart Gunn.

The Nation lasted until around September 1998 and officially disbanded in October 1998 when Mark Henry attacked the nations leader The Rock. After the nation split up Wright pursued a successful solo career and took his new persona as The Godfather to new levels. The Godfather character was constantly surrounded by "ho's" – usually girls from local strip clubs. His catchphrases, including "Pimpin' Ain't Easy" and "All aboard the Ho Train", quickly got over and he gained a run with the WWF Intercontinental Championship in April 1999. (The Godfather was supposed to drop the title to Owen Hart at Over the Edge 1999 but Owen died before the match started whilst entering the ring.)

As he was working the Godfather gimmick the WWF began airing SmackDown! on UPN, drawing the attention of the Parents Television Council (PTC), which claimed the WWF and their programming was inappropriate for prime time television. One of the PTCs complaints was the Godfathers pimp gimmick, and during the ensuing controversies the WWF higher ups began imposing restrictions on what he could say and do, hurting his popularity. The Godfather, both before and after being toned down, became something of a tag team specialist, forming teams with Val Venis, Mark Henry, and D'Lo Brown.

With the WWF in general being hurt by the PTC's attention, they decided to mock the entire thing by creating Right to Censor, a conservative group of wrestlers lead by Steven Richards. Richards slowly picked up and converted other wrestlers to his way of thinking, including the Godfather(The Godfather had lost a match to Bull Buchanan and due to a prior stipulation he was forced to abandon "pimping" and began wearing a shirt and tie to the ring.), who was renamed The Goodfather and put into a tag team with Bull Buchanan that won the World Tag Team Championship. Right to Censor disbanded in 2001 as the Invasion storyline began.

The Godfather character had a short revival in 2002, claiming to have gone "legitimate" and formed a legal escort agency. It lasted around four months, but never caught on in the way the original did. When he wasn't "drafted" during the brand split an apparent angle was begun during a RAW dark match with him attacking the also un-drafted Val Venis. Nothing came of it, and he was taken off television altogether.

Wright retired from wrestling, returning to Las Vegas to manage Cheetah's, a Gentleman's Club.

Retirement and one-time appearances (2002–Current)

Despite his retirement, the Godfather returned to WWE only to make one night appearances with his Ho–Train. The Godfather appeared one more time during the "wedding" of Billy and Chuck in 2002 to tell both Billy and Chuck that they used to be ladies' men, and asked "What the hiz-hell is going on". He left with the Ho-Train, after being dismissed by Rico.

He appeared at Vengeance 2005 interrupting Viscera's marriage proposal to Lilian Garcia, to show Viscera what he would be "missing out on" if he asked Lillian to marry him. Viscera dropped the proposal, but instead dumped Lilian for The Godfather's Hos.

The Godfather's next appearance was at the Theodore Long and Kristal Marshall wedding ceremony on the September 21, 2007 edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown, where he tried to convince Long and Ron Simmons to go back to the old partying days they had, but refused. He left with his Ho Train, leaving with all the guests and JBL, minus Mr.McMahon, Jonathan Coachman, Hornswoggle, Gerald Brisco, Pat Patterson, Michael Cole and several WWE Divas.

The Godfather reappeared on WWE television during the McMahon family portrait, on December 10, 2007, during RAW's 15th Anniversary, where he let Hornswoggle join his Ho Train.