Headbanger Mosh Recalls Punching Papa Shango In The Face Before His Second-Ever Match

Headbanger Mosh’s second-ever match took place against Papa Shango in WWE, and he recently recalled how he punched him in the face at his request before the match. Mosh had his first matches in WWE (then WWF) back in 1993 as an enhancement talent as Chaz Ware. His second match took place on the July 6th, 1993 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge against Shango, now better known as The Godfather.

Mosh was obviously very green at that point and as he related on Insight With Chris Van Vliet, he went into the match already nervous because Shango apparently had heat with The Monster Factor, which Mosh trained at. As Mosh recalled, he spoke with Shango about the match and was asked to throw a punch to prove he could do it. You can see the highlights below:

Finding Out He Was Facing Shango:

“So, this is great too, because now it’s my second night. So, there’s a bunch of us from the school. We all went out that night, we had a few drinks. So I’m sitting there, I’m feeling confident. I’m like, I had a match last night, this is going to be good. They roll the board out, and it says Papa Shango versus Chaz. I’m like, ‘Oh, another giant, okay.’ Then Glenn said to me, ‘Oh sh*t.’ I go, ‘What’s wrong?’ He goes, Larry [Sharpe] and Papa have heat.’ I don’t know what it is. There’s heat there, because Papa Shango went through the Monster Factory. Now I’m thinking, I knew Papa Shango went through the Monster Factory, I see that, and I’m golden. We went to the same school, we can talk about it. He goes, ‘Him and Larry have heat, it’s real heat.’ And I go, ‘What’s the heat?’ He goes, ‘I don’t know, but just don’t mention you went to the Monster Factory.’

“So now I have to go over and introduce myself to him and say, ‘Hey, I’ll be sitting over here when you’re ready to tell me whatever you want to do to me.’ And now I’m thinking, what if he asked me what school I went to? What do I say? All this is going through my mind, so my confidence of being here quickly got squashed.”

On Talking to Shango Before the Match and the Punch:

“So Papa comes over. He’s like, ‘Come on, let’s talk about it.’ We went through a couple of things. Then he says to me, ‘How do you throw a punch?’ I go, ‘I punch you right there’, and I’m pointing to his neck, I don’t want to hit you up here. I’m trying to talk him through what I’ve been told or what I’ve seen. I haven’t thrown a punch at the school. I’ve done nothing offensive at the school. I’ve just taken bumps and hit the ropes. So I’m like, ‘I punch you right there.’ And he’s like, ‘Okay, yeah, but how do you throw a punch?’ I’m like, ‘Well, I hit you down here.’ And he goes, ‘How do you throw a punch?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

“Now, looking back like me today, if I get into the locker room with someone and someone’s having that conversation back, I most likely would be like, ‘Kid I’ll see you out there, don’t worry about it, and I’m thinking I’m not gonna let you do anything. I’m just gonna bump you and that’s it.’ He had such patience. He looks at me, goes, ‘Throw a punch.’ I go, ‘You want me to punch you right now?’ He’s like, yes. I’m like, Okay. I punched him so hard. His head spins this way. He turns around. He’s like, ‘Kid, tonight you’re gonna throw kicks.’ I was like, ‘Okay. Do you want to see how I kick?’ He goes, ‘No.’ Because I had never thrown a kick, and no offensive moves whatsoever. And then it’s great in the match, because we go through the stuff, and he shoots me to the corner, and he comes charged in, and I move, and I’m like, one, kick, two, kick, three, kicks. And he comes out of the corner, wham, and just squashes me. But those were my first offensive moves. And the best part about that story is, all the years we were in the locker room together, I never told him. I don’t know why. It’s just insecurities I always had, I never really felt like I fit. I guess maybe that was kind of why.”