10 Weirdest Wrestling Characters (That Actually Worked)
8. Papa Shango
By January of 1992, pro wrestling had already seen a ballet dancer, several wild-eyed savages, a couple of Kings and a Human Orchid (a No-Prize to anyone who can name the wrestlers hinted at here). So, perhaps the time was right for a Voodoo practitioner. WWF had experienced so much success with the debut of The Undertaker two years earlier that it was obviously thrilled to introduce another spooky, supernatural character. The Papa Shango gimmick was originally inspired by the character of Baron Samedi from the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die, and his character included similar theatrics and trickery to those seen in the movie. Papa Shango didnt quite have the sticking power that The Undertaker had, but the characters two-year run in the WWF was certainly a memorable one. Charles Wright, the wrestler that portrayed Shango also worked several other gimmicks and would eventually go on to greater fame as The Godfather, a fun loving pimp-daddy, during the Attitude Era.
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
I don't generally read or reply to comments here on What Culture (too many trolls!), but if you follow my Twitter (@heyquicksilver), I'll talk to you all day long!
If you are interested in reading more of my stuff, you can find it on http://quicksilverstories.weebly.com/ (my personal site, which has other wrestling/comics/pop culture stuff on it).
I also write for FLiCK http://www.flickonline.co.uk/flicktion, which is the best place to read my fiction work.
Oh yeah - I'm about to become a Dad for the first time, so if my stuff seems more sentimental than usual - blame it on that!
Finally, I sincerely appreciate every single read I get. So if you're reading this, thank you, you've made me feel like Shakespeare for a day! (see what I mean?)
Latcho Drom,
- CQ