10 WWE Attitude Era Stars fans forgot about

#4 The Godfather

It's hard to believe that body merchant The Godfather used to be Papa Shango

Charles Wright, the man who would eventually be known as the Godfather in WWE, got his start in the industry in an unusual way. He was tending bar while the film crew for Over the Top (a forgotten Sylvester Stone arm wrestling vehicle) when he was spotted by several wrestlers working on the production as extras. They advised Wright that a big man like himself would make a natural pro wrestler.

Wright trained for the ring and developed several personas before the WWE christened him Papa Shango. The voodoo priest character was relatively over, and had a memorable feud with Ultimate Warrior in which Shango 'cursed' the face painted champion.

Other tricks Shango pulled included setting his opponents on fire (it's not as cool as it sounds.) Over time, the Papa Shango character was retired, and after spending a brief period as Kama Mustafa, Wright happened upon the Godfather gimmick, basically a wrestling pimp. He won the Intercontinental championship and had a few reigns as tag team champion before his tenure was done. Ironically, he would be repackaged as the Right to Censor Goodfather when WWE switched to a PG format.

Why no one remembers him: Much of the blame falls on WWE's shoulders for revisionist history. Because the company is now PG and family friendly, a wrestling pimp just won't fly in today's market. Thus, Godfather is almost never mentioned on WWE programming, leading to many fans being unaware of who he was.