Charles Wright’s WWE Attitude Era character of The Godfather was created thanks to a very surprising individual in his life.
WWE Hall of Famer The Godfather was a recent guest on The Universal Wrestling Podcast, to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked who came up with the character, The Godfather revealed that the idea surprisingly came from his wife.
“Besides Ric Flair, I am probably the truest to the gimmick that you can be, pimp or not aside. That was just that was me being Charles Wright…and a lot of people know this, but that was my wife’s idea,” The Godfather revealed. “All that was my wife’s idea. I just did the entertaining part. When I went to Vince, I said, ‘Vince, they see enough wrestling, man, let me entertain them. Let me go out there and just entertain the people.’
“And that’s what I tried to… that’s why when they put the Intercontinental belt on me, it didn’t really mean anything, because I had two girls, and the belt was nothing more than something that the girls carry. I had the show, and so I was just out there to entertain people. And I was trying to do it…I was never scripted. So I was able to do it, and say whatever I wanted to say. So I was just out there having fun and tried to make it fun.”
When asked about the process of developing his character, The Godfather revealed the character came together within a three-day span, and WWE creative didn’t have anything to do with it.
“We developed The Godfather with like three days, and the WWE had nothing to do with The Godfather, creative wise, and coming up with the character,” The Godfather said. “The Godfather is something that, I was at my end of my Nation run. And now The Rock is doing his own thing, Mark Henry and D-Lo are tagging up. And I was having fun, and wrestling was always fun for me, so I was having fun.
“And I didn’t want to leave, and my contract was coming up, and so my wife came up with the whole Godfather thing, and I was wrestling Bradshaw, and I was the Godfather, I was Kama Mustafa, and we’re on the popcorn match, which is the match right after intermission. And we’re getting no reaction, and we’re beating the hell out of each other bad.
“And I love Johnny to death, and we’re beating the hell out of each other and getting no reaction whatsoever. And so one day I was like, ‘Hey, Johnny, let’s try this.’ So I went to the agent at the time, who was Jack Lanza, god rest his soul. So, I’m like, ‘Jack, let’s try something.’ So I go out there, and I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m just gonna say, I’m a pimp.’ Okay, you get a little reaction from the people. I said, ‘But what you don’t know is right here in Las Vegas, Nevada, man, they got some of the best hoes ever born’ So I’d do my own show, and offer Johnny the girls. They didn’t even have any girls.
“I didn’t even have any girls. But when I got to the point where I would offer him the girls, the audience would start saying ‘Take the hoes! Take them hoes!” so Johnny would take the hoes and everybody be happy. No girls involved. He would leave, I would heel on the people, he turned around. Hit me with that Lariat. 1-2-3, I’d pop up, put my hat back on, and say ‘Man, pimping ain’t easy.’
“And then we went from nobody reacting to having a reaction the whole time. And so we did like, two house shows, and we got to TV, and Vince came to me and goes ‘So what are you doing with this thing here?’ And I explained things to him. I’m like, ‘Let me entertain the people, man. Let me go out there with some girls. Talk some shit. Have some fun.'”
READ MORE: The Godfather: Two Things Changed My Life For The Better; Marijuana And My Wife
What do you make of The Godfather’s comments? Who is your favorite WWE character that Charles Wright portrayed? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit The Universal Wrestling Podcast with a link back to this article for the transcription.
