10 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring's Evan Husney

8. How To Earn The Godfather's Trust

Woman Nancy Chris Benoit
WWE.com

For so long, the wrestling business was hugely protected and was accessible to only a select few. That means that for something like Dark Side of the Ring, which has so many of its stories rooted in decades of the past, the team behind the series were often dealing with industry veterans whose trust they had to work hard to earn.

One such person who Husney, Eisener, and their crew had to win over, was Charles Wright.

Whether you know him as The Godfather, The Goodfather, Kama Mustafa, Papa Shango, or even The Soultaker, Wright was always an entertaining presence when in a wrestling ring - which is indicative of his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame back in 2016.

Upon meeting Wright for the first time - which involved a 10pm meeting at the Cheetah's strip club where Charles was working at that point - Evan told the story of how the Dark Side of the Ring team were being weighed up by the one-time Intercontinental Champion.

To win him over, Husney and Co. ended up going toe-to-toe with Wright on shots of whiskey and even certain other party essentials - to the point that their cameraman ended up totally wasted and passed out by the time that first late-night meeting had concluded.

As mentioned by Evan in our chat, Charles Wright himself has led a fascinating life, from biker gangs to strip clubs to wrestling rings - and maybe he could be a realistic candidate to have his complete story told in a future Dark Side of the Ring season.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.