Charles Wright (born May 16, 1961), better known under his ring name The Godfather, is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, and underwent several gimmick changes; the most notable were Papa Shango, Kama, Kama Mustafa, The Godfather and The Goodfather.
Among other accolades, Wright is a two-time USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion, a one-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, and a one-time WWF World Tag Team Champion (with Bull Buchanan). He headlined Saturday Night's Main Event XXXI against Bret Hart for the WWF Championship. Wright was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 2, 2016, under the Godfather gimmick.
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Professional wrestling career
Early career (1989–1991)
Wright first entered professional wrestling after being noticed tending to a 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. 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.
In February and March 1990, Wright wrestled for the South Carolina-based promotion South Atlantic Pro Wrestling as "Baron Samedi".
Throughout 1990, Wright made appearances in Japan with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as "The Soultaker". During his appearances with NJPW, he often teamed with Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow. His opponents during his time in NJPW included Masahiro Chono, Masa Saito, and Riki Choshu.
In November 1990, Wright wrestled for the Catch Wrestling Association in Germany as "Rocky Las Vegas". In August 1991, he appeared with the Dallas, Texas-based Global Wrestling Federation as "The Soultaker".
World Wrestling Federation (1991–1993)
In 1991, Wright was brought in to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) at the suggestion of his friend The Undertaker. He made his first appearance on May 28, 1991, at a WWF Superstars of Wrestling taping in Tucson, Arizona. Wright competed there and 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 never developed, and even when talking about it later Wright only remembers wearing robes he purchased from another wrestler to the ring. He made a dark match appearance for the pay-per-view This Tuesday in Texas defeating Dale Wolfe.
In January 1992, Wright was repackaged as a heel by the name of "Papa Shango", a horror-themed voodoo practitioner with an appearance reminiscent of the loa Baron Samedi, as depicted in the 1973 film Live and Let Die. Full of cryptic rituals and an occult, culturally exotic presence, the supernatural character carried a skull to the ring billowing smoke and could control arena lights (supernatural arena lighting control heavily associated with The Undertaker gimmick, according to Wright had its origins with the Papa Shango gimmick), allowing for strange goings-on in the ring, and later could "cast spells" to cause opponents pain and to make them vomit from afar.
The Shango character debuted on the February 8, 1992, edition of Superstars, defeating enhancement talent Dale Wolfe. Shango was then thrust into the spotlight almost immediately, running in on the Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice main event at WrestleMania VIII. 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 he hit the big leg drop. Because Shango was late, Sid kicked out of the legdrop to save the angle. Sid's manager, Harvey Wippleman then jumped on the apron, and the referee signaled for the disqualification at that point as Shango was just getting to the ring. Ultimate Warrior then returned to the WWF by running to the ring and helping Hogan against Sid and Shango.
After WrestleMania, Sid and the Warrior were scheduled to begin a feud. Sid had previously failed a drug test and was let go by the WWF. The feud was then re-written with Shango instead of Sid, where he would cast voodoo spells on his opponent. The angle went nowhere, as Warrior challenged Randy Savage for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam, with the rivalry never culminating. Meanwhile, Shango defeated Tito Santana in a dark match at the event. When Shango was finally set to have a match with Warrior in November 1992, Warrior was released from WWF. Shango received a WWF World Heavyweight Championship shot against Bret Hart (with whom he had been feuding immediately prior to Hart's World title win) on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXI, but was unsuccessful. Wright's final PPV appearance as the Papa Shango character was at the 1993 Royal Rumble (where he was eliminated in under 30 seconds). He would appear in another pay-per-view dark match against Tito Santana at WrestleMania IX, with Santana getting the victory. Shango was seen infrequently on WWF television afterwards, and following a loss to Jim Duggan in a 1993 King of the Ring qualifying match, he made two final televised appearances against enhancement talent in June and July 1993.
Catch Wrestling Association (1993–1994, 1995)
Wright as Shango defeated Ulf Herman for Otto Wanz' Catch Wrestling Association in Germany in December 1993. As Papa Shango, he wrestled a summer tour in 1994. In July, he had a shot at the CWA World Heavyweight Championship against Rambo, but lost.
A year later on December 16, 1995, he returned as Kama and defeated Viktor Kruuger.
Return to World Wrestling Federation (1995–1996)
Wright returned to the WWF in January 1995 under the antagonistic heel gimmick of Kama (nicknamed "The Supreme Fighting Machine"), a scrappy and competitive shoot wrestler inspired by Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Kimo Leopoldo. Shortly after his debut, he joined Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation stable. He became an immediate part of the stable's feud with The Undertaker, stealing the Undertaker's signature urn at April's WrestleMania XI then having it melted down and formed into bling, but remained in possession of the bling urn remnants until November 1995 when King Mabel seized it amid a feud with The Undertaker. He was taken off television in the fall of 1995, and after a final appearance in the 1996 Royal Rumble match, Wright left the company again.
National Wrestling Conference (1996)
Kama made a few appearances for National Wrestling Conference in Las Vegas where he feuded with Sabu.
Proposed WCW Run (1996)
Shortly after his departure, Wright had verbally agreed to join World Championship Wrestling to serve as the enforcer for the New World Order (nWo), but chose not to go to WCW after speaking to Ron Simmons. Wright then learned that WCW signed Virgil to be the nWo's enforcer by watching WCW Monday Nitro at home with his wife, and that they had signed him for less than what they offered Wright.
Second Return to World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1997–2002)
Wright was asked to return in 1997, with the original plans being for him to revive the Papa Shango character. Instead he returned as Kama, now billed under his full name, "Kama Mustafa", joining Faarooq's faction the Nation of Domination. On the June 16 episode of Raw, Mustafa and Faarooq defeated Ahmed Johnson and The Undertaker. Mustafa became increasingly known as "The Godfather" of the Nation, a moniker which was the brainchild of Wright's wife and would become his official ring name in mid-1998. He stood with the Nation when Rocky Maivia became the leader shortly after Wrestlemania XIV, standing with Maivia, Mark Henry, D'Lo Brown, and later Owen Hart after he joined the stable in early May 1998.
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. On a July 27 episode of Raw is War, Wright debuted his "Ho’s", during a tag-match, with Nation member Mark Henry against the Legion of Doom. The Nation lasted until around September 1998 and officially disbanded in October 1998 when Henry attacked the Nation's leader The Rock.
After The Nation split up, Wright had his most successful run with the company under the hugely popular persona of "The Godfather". The Godfather character would be constantly surrounded by "hoes" – in reality girls from local strip clubs, actresses, or up-and-coming female wrestlers (Victoria and Lita were the best-known wrestlers to play the role, while Ivory was offered the role but was discouraged from accepting by Luna Vachon). He would offer his opponents the right to use these girls for "any purpose" if they would forfeit the match to him. The Godfather first walked out with his "hoes" on the July 27, 1998 episode of Raw Is War.
The gimmick was highly popular with audiences, and he defeated Goldust for the WWF Intercontinental Championship on the April 12, 1999, episode of Raw Is War. He was Owen Hart's scheduled opponent for the title at Over the Edge; Hart was fatally injured during a live stunt prior to the match's time. The Godfather was scheduled to lose the title to Hart's character, "The Blue Blazer," that night. The Godfather would instead lose the title to Hart's tag team partner Jeff Jarrett a week later. On the March 16, 2000, episode of SmackDown!, he picked up the biggest win of his career, when he defeated the WWF Champion Triple H in a non-title match, due to interference from Shane McMahon and Big Show.
Late career (2002–2020, 2024)
In late 2009, Wright returned to wrestling to take part in Hulk Hogan's "Hulkamania: Let The Battle Begin" tour of Australia. On November 21, Wright, using the new ring name "The Pimp Fatha", teamed with Nick Dinsmore to defeat Rock of Love (Billy Blade and Kadin Anthony) in a tag team match. On November 24, Big Daddy Row Row defeated Pimp Fatha and Sean Morley in a three-way match. Two days later, Pimp Fatha defeated Heidenreich. After the match, he hosted a bikini contest which was won by Lacey von Erich. Two days later, Pimp Fatha wrestled his last match on the tour and was defeated by Sean Morley.
In January 2012, Wright won a battle royal at Pro Wrestling Superstars in Los Angeles.
Wright made a rare in-ring segment along with his longtime friend Val Venis and Dexter Verity in Future Stars of Wrestling, where he promised to bring his hoes if Venis and Verity would have succeeded defending their tag team titles. In September 2013, Wright resumed wrestling on the independent circuit.
In spring of 2014 Wright made two appearances for Preston City Wrestling in England, as Papa Shango working against local star Bubblegum on both nights. In October 2014 at Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW) Halloween Hell, Wright teamed with his old partner, Val Venis to face the team of then-ECCW Tag Team Champions Jordie Taylor and Daniel Adonis and the team of Ladies Choice and Eric Locker in a three-way elimination tag team match, but unsuccessful. Wright would step down from wrestling in March 2020 when COVID-19 hit.
On April 26, 2024, Wright returned as Papa Shango when he defeated This Guy in Burwood East, New South Wales, Australia for Battle Championship Wrestling.
Professional wrestling style and persona
According to Wright, the Papa Shango character uses paint because Vince McMahon said his face did not match his body. During his last WWE appearances as The Godfather, where he would usually be accompanied by a group of girls referred to as the "Ho Train", Wright appeared sans girls. According to him, it was done because times had changed and the character was phased out.
Personal life
Wright attended the University of Nevada, Reno where he was an offensive tackle on the football team. After leaving professional wrestling, Wright moved to Las Vegas where he managed the Cheetah's strip club. He married his girlfriend Denise in September 2000, they have four children together. His marriage to Denise is his third marriage.
Championships and accomplishments
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Ranked No. 61 of the 500 top wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1999
Ranked No. 353 of the 500 top wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
United States Wrestling Association
USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
Vendetta Pro Wrestling
Vendetty Award for Co-Special Guest star of the Year – with Chavo Guerrero Sr. and Chavo Guerrero Jr. (2014)
World Wrestling Federation / WWE
WWF Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Bull Buchanan
WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2016)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Worst Gimmick (1992) as Papa Shango
Worst Feud of the Year (1992) vs. The Ultimate Warrior
Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1992)