WWE Almost Brought In ‘More Serious’ Papa Shango Character

WWE has plenty of colorful characters in the company’s history. Papa Shango was a voodoo character from a previous generation, but he almost made a return to the company. This just goes to show that you never know when plans might change and call for a completely new direction.

While speaking to Scheduled For Two Falls in January, The Godfather talked about WWE nixing Papa Shango’s return to the company. He was ready to go, but they changed plans.

“So, for some reason WWE convinced me to come back as Papa Shango, but it was going to be a lot different. I showed up to the television taping and they said Vince McMahon wanted to talk to me. I was like ‘cool.'”

“So I went into Vince and he said, “Charles, change of plans. Tonight we’re going to put you in the Nation of Domination. You’re going to wrestle with Ron Simmons against the Undertaker in a handicap match — and you are going to go over. We made you a little outfit. So why don’t you get with Mark and Ron and work something out and we’ll talk later'”

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During his time speaking on the Broken Skull Sessions, The Godfather went into more detail about why Papa Shango’s return to WWE was nixed.

The new incarnation of Papa Shango was set to be a much meaner and serious character. The cartoon antics were going to be 86ed as the Attitude Era would have brought a new version of the voodoo character.

“This was going to be less comical, a lot more serious — Jerry Lawler painted that face. I show up to TV, ready to go. I’m in really good shape here. I worked out hard, I’m like, ‘We going to have some fun now, I’m going to be a lot more serious this time.’ I was probably 285, I was in really good shape. I show up to TV, took these pictures, and they say, ‘Vince wants to talk with you.’

“I was like, ‘Cool! I want to talk with Vince!’ I go in there, right, and Vince was like, ‘Charles, change of plans. We’re going to put you in the Nation of Domination. You and Faarooq are going to wrestle Undertaker, and you’re going to go over.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ And he goes, ‘We have this outfit made for you.’ [Laughs] Okay, I don’t know how most people would take it. I said, ‘You’re the boss, you’re paying me. Let’s do it.’”

We’ll never know what could have happened if Papa Shango made a serious return. Godfather’s career continued from that point on and he found a new purpose in WWE.

The Godfather is now a WWE Hall of Famer and he can speak about his career in retrospect. It still makes us wonder what kind of plan WWE really had for a serious version of Papa Shango.

How would you have booked Papa Shango as a serious character? Sound off in the comments!

Thanks to Wrestling Inc for the quote