"You’re going to be the enforcer" - The Godfather reveals the role he was meant to play in the nWo
The Godfather has revealed that he was in discussion with Jim Heard and Dusty Rhodes to join WCW as a member of the nWo. However, last-minute changes on WCW's side prevented that from happening.
Charles Wright is a WWE Hall of Famer who worked with the company for more than nine years. He played several characters, including Papa Shango, Kama of the Nation of Domination, and most notably his role as The Godfather.
While with WWE, Wright held two titles, the WWE Intercontinental Championship and the WWE Tag Team Championships with Bill Buchanan.
Speaking on the Scheduled for Two Falls podcast, Charles Wright recalled how he had discussions with Jim Heard and Dusty Rhodes about potentially joining WCW as a member of the nWo. The Godfather was told he would be the enforcer of the group.
"First of all, I never talked to Eric Bischoff. It was Jim Herd and somebody else; Dusty Rhodes too. I was talking with Kevin or Scott, it wasn’t Hulk. But we were talking back and forth and I talked to Jim Herd and they’re like, "OK, we’re going to bring you in and you’re slowly going to get in matches and you’re going to be the enforcer."
The Godfather was looking forward to the role. However, a last minute creative decision from WCW meant he would never step foot inside a WCW ring. Additionally, Wright revealed that he was swayed away from joining the company by Ron Simmons. You can read about that over here.
The position intended for The Godfather was given to Virgil
Despite being ready to join WCW, The Godfather found out the hard way that the position he was offered was handed to another former WWE Superstar, Virgil. He remembered how he was calling about the position, only to realize that WCW had given it to Virgil who was then under the name Vincent.
"I think I was calling and he wasn’t calling me so I called this one and he wasn’t calling me back so I knew something is going on. Next thing I know, I see Virgil out there and I’m like, ‘Oh ok.’ I would assume that somebody up at 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 like that."
It's a good thing Charles Wright chose not to go with WCW and ended up staying with WWE. His decision to stay eventually led to the creation of his infamous gimmick, The Godfather. The gimmick got him inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016.