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Godfather On Being In Talks With WCW In Mid-1990s, Being Warned Not to Go There Due to Racism

February 2, 2021 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
The Godfather - Papa Shango Charles Wright Image Credit: WWE

Charles Wright became an icon of 1990s wrestling as the Godfather, but he was in talks with WCW before that and discussed the situation on the Scheduled For Two Falls podcast. You can see some highlights from the discussion below, along with the full audio:

Godfather on reports he was in talks with Eric Bischoff to to go to WCW and join the nWo: “First of all, I never talked to Eric Bischoff, so Eric Bischoff had nothing — I don’t know where that came from … It was Jim Herd and somebody else, and I think Dusty Rhodes was there too. But it had nothing to do with Eric Bischoff. I was talking with Scott [Hall] and I don’t remember because see, I’m friends with Kevin, Scott, I’m friends with all those guys. And back then we talked all the time. I don’t know if it was Kevin [Nash] or Scott [Hall]. It wasn’t Hulk. I don’t remember, but we were talking back and forth. I talked to Jim Herd. And they’re like, ‘Okay, we’re going to bring you in, and we’re gonna do this, and we’re gonna put you in here. And we’re gonna slowly get you in matches and you’re going to be the enforcer.’ And I’m like, ‘Cool.’

“And so I think I was like, ‘Well, I’m calling this guy now, and he’s not calling me back.’ I called this one and he wasn’t calling me back, so I’m like, ‘Alright, something’s going on.’ And next thing I know, I see Virgil out there and was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ So basically, they would probably — I would assume that somebody up the top said, ‘You know, why pay this one that much when we could pay this one that much.’ And they clowned Virgil, they would never have clowned me. I would have never let that happen.”

Godfather on being advised not to go to WCW due to racism there: “Ron Simmons in fact, Ron Simmons is the one that told me, ‘You don’t want to go there.’ And he said, ‘Nah, you won’t fit in there.’ He goes, ‘Don’t go there, because it’s not the place for you.’ Ron told me straight up, ‘Don’t go there, stay where you are.’

“You know, I’m a northern boy and those were all southern boys. And I’m used to dealing with bikers, kinda redneck racist dudes anyway, so I have a short fuse with those dudes. And so I basically saying — he was like, ‘You’re going to hear this [racism].’ And I’m like, ‘I ain’t gonna hear that.’ He goes, ‘Yes you are.’ And I said, ‘Well, if I hear that I’m going to be fighting.’ He goes, ‘Well then you’re going to be fighting every day.’ He goes, ‘Don’t go there. You’re not used to dealing with these people, I am.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Scheduled For Two Falls with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.

article topics :

Godfather, Ron Simmons, WCW, Jeremy Thomas