Wrestling Deja Vu 06.01.09: The Weird Wright Brothers

Posted by Joseph F. Martinez on 06.01.2009

Wrestling is a place where voodoo practitioners and the Boogeyman can all exist in the same world. It’s also the only place where that voodoo guy can turn into a shoot fighter and then a pimp.

Hey yo. Welcome to the column. Today is Monday, June 1st and this is Wrestling Deja Vu, written by the only guy who would dedicate a whole article to Ricky Ortiz.

This column is the first of Reader Request month by the way. Each of the columns in June will be items that the readers have sent in, so if you have anything on your mind just send an e-mail or type a comment below. I already have the topics for this month set but I always try and get some reader input every now and then.


On tap for today is a comparison between two supernatural wrestlers, Papa Shango and The Boogeyman. I know the individuals behind the characters (Charles Wright and Marty Wright) aren't really brothers, but the topic title had to be made. Both of these guys weren't very good with their in-ring skills, but they didn't really need that with the gimmicks they had. They had magic and voodoo!




Last week I wrote about the dreaded motivational speaker gimmick. Diamond Dallas Page, Sean O'Haire, Simon Dean and Ricky Ortiz were all involved. Check it out if you haven't. Here is some of the feedback from last week.

Looking back

Guest#5997: DDP not being successful in the WWF was one of the bigger botches by that company. I wish he would come back and be a manager.

I agree. Page was one of WCW's better known wrestlers and he wasn't that bad in the ring. I don't think he should come back as a manager or anything because he seems happy with his life from what I've heard. Still, I wish the situation was handled better.

neverAcquiesce : O'Haire had it all: the look, the talent, the gimmick. WWE dropped a huge ball with him. Maybe Vince just hates guys who look like Brendan Fraser.

Yep: Every time I see those Sean O'Haire promos I see another great gimmick concept that just wasn't allowed to grow into its potential.

It took a while for me to warm up to the promos at the time, but I can see what you mean now. The guy delivered them well and it was something different.

Jonberg: i'm pretty sure DDP wasn't saddled with the gimmick. He pushed for it as it was an extension of real life.

Really? That is an interesting bit to hear. The gimmick just seemed awful and I don't know why he would ask for it unless he was on the verge of being fired or something.

AND INTRODUCTING THE PARTICIPANTS

Marty Wright tried out for the WWE's reality show, Tough Enough, and actually made it through the first elimination round. Soon after, he revealed he was 40 and was banished from the competition. Fortunately for Wright, he received an offer to wrestle at the WWE's developmental organization, OVW. He created the Boogeyman character and was called up to television shortly after. He would dominate certain wrestlers and was unstoppable in the ring. As time went by, he accumulated victories over former world champions JBL and Booker T. He was also pretty popular with the fans. Despite this, he never rose above the midcard and was fired after being constantly injured.



WHERE IS HE NOW?: He was fired in March, so his 90-day no compete clause is probably coming to an end soon. It was revealed that he owns the rights to the gimmick so he'll probably be wrestling in the independents as the Boogeyman.



Charles Wright was signed by the WWE in 1991 but didn't do much for a year. In 1992, he took on the Papa Shango character. Shango would utilize the art of voodoo to his advantage and immediately feuded with the Ultimate Warrior. After that, the WWE had nothing for him so he left the company. He returned soon only to go through a revolving door of gimmicks. After playing the Godfather/Goodfather, he retired in 2002.

WHERE IS HE NOW?: He's still retired. He made some sporadic appearances for the company as the Godfather but hasn't been on television since 2007.

CREATURES OF THE NIGHT



The Boogeyman is a fictional character that supposedly scares children after the lights go out. The tale still floats around, so it must be a pretty effective one. Marty Wright thought it would be cool to see that character in the wrestling ring and made it his own. Like the tale the character is based upon, the Boogeyman would scare certain WWE superstars. John Bradshaw Layfield, Booker T and Matt Striker were all guys who felt the wrath of the Boogeyman. Papa Shango was similar to the Boogeyman in that they both used their supernatural abilities to scare individuals. Boogeyman used it to mess around with heels and Shango used it to intimidate opponents. He is best known for his feud with the Ultimate Warrior where he placed the Warrior under a spell. This led to one of the more memorable moments where Papa Shango's spell caused a dark substance to leak out of the Ultimate Warrior.

FACE OF DEATH

I'm sure when developers were thinking up these gimmicks they pondered how elaborate the attire would be. The Boogeyman and a Voodoo man don't have a universal appearance so it allowed creative to go all out with costume development. The results were pretty good. The Boogeyman and Shango both used face paint to cover their true identities. Smoke was another common factor with these two characters. Papa Shango had his spells and the Boogeyman had his worms and all of it contributed to aesthetically pleasing characters.

A SHORT SPELL

There is a reason the Boogeyman and Papa Shango didn't wrestle a very long time with these characters. The gimmick can only last for so long before it gets stale. Viewers already suspend disbelief for the happenings in the ring so asking them to believe in supernatural characters is a stretch (although it has worked for the Undertaker). This isn't a shot at the average wrestling viewer, but just a statement that's true. No one really yearns for the stories of old in today's society. This didn't really seem to hurt the Boogeyman all that much as he was very over with the crowd until the end of his career, but it did limit him from wrestling in the main event. Boogeyman and Papa Shango had their standout moments (as do most wrestlers) but it was hard for anyone to take them credible for a long period of time.

THE RUNDOWN

It should be noted that Marty Wright was over the age of 40 when he started playing the Boogeyman. It didn't make any sense to repackage him like they did with Charles Wright so they let him go. Maybe if the Boogeyman was younger, he would have been given a different gimmick and still be under contract with the company. The Boogeyman enjoyed a longer time in the company due to the brand split and other reasons but there isn't much different between him and the Papa Shango character. One was a crazy voodoo user and the other was a creature of the dark. Shango definitely got to work with higher profile wrestlers (his main feud was with the Ultimate Warrior) but that may be attributed to a different time period.

In Case You Missed It

Had a busy weekend? No worries, the following are all of the columns posted over the weekend.

411Mania's Squared Circle News Report

Contemplating CHIKARA

The Wrestling Bard

Column of Honor

The Bell to Bell News Report

For The Record

The Triple Threat

Goodnight, Travel Well

• I haven't really written about sports in this little section because Jonathon Coachman once said that 95% of the audience didn't care, but how silly does Nike and ESPN look for the constant LeBron-Kobe talk. I understand that those two are the NBA's biggest superstars, but it was pretty disrespectful to the Denver and Orlando organizations.

• The tale of Mr. Kennedy is an unfortunate one. When he first arrived on the scene I thought he had all the potential in the world and I know I‘m not the only person who thought that. He got injured and then he just seemed so mediocre. He also got into some trouble with steroids and it was only a matter of time until his release occurred. If he can get his act together, he can be a pillar of an organization. I believe Edge was once an injury prone wrestler and he has turned out pretty well.

• Extreme Rules is this Sunday I believe. I think the card looks nice despite it being filled with Judgment Day rehashes. The match that has my attention is the No Holds Barred one between Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio. I think the cage match with Batista and Randy Orton could be good, but I'm not expecting greatness.

• …and that's all for this column. Bookmark 411mania.com for all your pop culture needs or Papa Shango may make a comeback just to unleash some spells. I'll be back in a week with another reader request. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week.