WWE Hall of Famer The Godfather (Charles Wright) recently addressed several long-standing topics about his career as Papa Shango on his “Poddin’ Ain’t Easy” podcast. He clarified the story behind his infamous missed cue at WrestleMania VIII, discussed his relationship with The Ultimate Warrior, and explained that his departures from WWE were always his own decision.
For decades, stories have circulated about The Godfather, as Papa Shango, missing his cue to run in during the main event between Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice at WrestleMania VIII. He stated that he never received any backstage heat for the incident because it was not his fault. “Honestly, I never heard one word about it from not one person until later,” he said. “The problem was… somebody should have timed how long it was going to take [me] to run that distance… I didn’t send myself. They told me, ‘Don’t go till we send you.’ And if you look at the video, I’m running as fast as I can.”
He also discussed working with The Ultimate Warrior, who was the focus of Papa Shango’s “voodoo curse” storyline that famously saw Warrior secrete a black ooze. “I’m one of the few guys I got no shit to talk about… He was cool with me. I liked working with him,” The Godfather said. “Come on, dude, this guy’s a world champion putting over voodoo and shit. For him just to do that… I ain’t mad at it. He didn’t have to.”
As Papa Shango, he was known for being one of the scariest characters of the era, something he said he did intentionally. “I told Vince… ‘let me go after kids’,” he recalled. “I would say something… ‘and tonight, when you go to sleep, you will not dream of the ocean. You will dream of death, and you will dream of Papa Shango.’ I used to scare the hell out of kids.” He recounted a time in White Plains, New York, when a group was picketing the arena because he was “scaring the hell out of their kids.”
Finally, The Godfather clarified that he was never fired from WWE, and that every time he left the company, it was his own choice. “Every time I was never let go… I would leave,” he stated. He explained that he left his Papa Shango run because he was “going through a bad divorce” and his “motorcycle, biker, bear” persona was getting him into “bad situations” in his personal life, so he decided it was “best that I bowed out” to get his mind right.
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