Good morning POU! Continuing with the theme this week, here’s another wrestler…
Charles Wright (born May 16, 1961) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, where he performed under the ring names Sir Charles, 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 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.
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.
During his time in the USWA, he would also tour in New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1990.
The Godfather, under his old gimmick and with his “ho’s”, returned at the 2002 Royal Rumble competing in the Rumble match. He failed to win, however, as he was eliminated by Chuck Palumbo and Christian. During the next six months, Wright competed in several television matches, usually on Raw, Heat and SmackDown’s sister show Velocity. Godfather wrestled his final match on the June 8 episode of Velocity, defeating Hugh Morrus. Wright was released from the WWE in December 2002 and briefly retired from professional wrestling.
On July 13, 2007, Wright returned to the ring for the first time in five years after his retirement, where he reunited with D’Lo Brown to defeat Jeremy and Bubba Blanchard in McMinnville, Oregon.
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 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 between three of his hoes. Two days later, Pimp Fatha wrestled his last match on the tour and defeated Morley.
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 the 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.
After leaving the wrestling business, Wright moved to Las Vegas, where he started managing the strip club Cheetah’s.
Wright and his wife have four children. Wright attended the University of Nevada where he played football.