Godfather Details His First-Ever Match Against Jerry Lawler

Charles Wright, best known as the Godfather, famously got involved in pro wrestling after wrestlers working on the Sylvester Stallone movie Over the Top came into the strip club where he worked and persuaded him he had the right look. In a conversation with Rewind Recap Relive, he recalled that when the movie was being filmed at the MGM Grand, wrestlers including Scott Norton would come into his club, and tell him that Bam Bam Bigelow made a million dollars from wrestling.

Wright called Larry Sharpe of the Monster factory, who had brought Bam Bam into the business. Shortly thereafter, he was wrestling Jerry Lawler in Memphis, in his first ever match. Yet as he now reveals, he had almost no training.

“I was in wrestling school for a short time, never went to class, went to a lot of bars, picked up a lot of girls, hung out with a lot of biker situation stuff, and I really never made it to school,” Wright said. “When I say that, I’m not joking!”

“And then one day he calls me. He’s like, ‘Uh, you got to come in today. Somebody wants to take a look at you.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know sh*t.’ Like, ‘Doesn’t matter.’ I got in the ring with Jerry. I was tumbling around with him. He goes, ‘I can work with him.” So, my very first match, not even knowing how to do a headlock, not knowing anything, was against Jerry Lawler in Memphis, Tennessee on a Monday night. And I beat him. I had to use fire to beat him, but I beat him. And all I did was listen to him.”

“And I was athletic enough, even though I think that when I look back, I look like a a Frankenstein. But I was athletic enough to do what he said. And that’s how I made it through it.”

Thus was born the Soultaker, the first of many characters Wright would portray over the years. Even that early in his career, however, it was clear the Godfather personality was there in real life.