20 Original WWE Character Concepts You Won’t Believe

7. Papa Shango

Papa Shango
WWE

A character like Papa Shango effectively gave WWE carte blanche to flex their maddest creative muscles, but considering how chaotic the actual character looked, the original designs are almost a little tame.

Shango's singlet pleasingly almost removed the veneer of him being a pro wrestler, whereas the outfits on the drawing board reduce him to less than one. The half-and-half tights and stripy trunks are only in keeping with the jobber attire of the day, and not remotely in sync with the voodoo man's style. Charles Wright may own a gentleman's club, but Papa Shango was no Jack Gallagher.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett