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At WrestleMania VIII, the Ultimate Warrior made his long awaited return to the World Wrestling Federation when he would show up to help Hulk Hogan fight off an attack from Sid Justice and Papa Shango at the end of the main event. It was clear moving forward that Warrior was scheduled to feud with Sid after the event, but Sid would soon be suspended and leave the company. Once Sid left, Warrior was instead placed in a feud with Voodoo master Papa Shango. What happened next would one of the funnier angles in WWF history, although that wasn’t necessarily the intent.
The feud got started on the May 9th, 1992 edition of WWF Superstars. During the program, Shango would put a hex on the Ultimate Warrior, which was Shango’s way of trying to ruin the Warrior’s career and gain possession of Warrior’s soul. The following week, Warrior defeated Brian Knobbs of the Nasty Boys in a singles match, but Shango came out and put another curse, or spell, on Warrior. Shango was clearly having an impact on Warrior as Warrior would clutch his stomach and fall off the ring apron in pain, and then later vomit backstage, all over a “physician”.
You can watch the puking segment below. Twenty seconds of fun!
Then, on the May 23rd, 1992 edition of Superstars, the feud between Papa Shango and Ultimate Warrior continued on, when Warrior was being interviewed by Mean Gene when a black substance started to drip from his head. You see, Shango’s primary form of attack was through playing mind games and casting spells, he hadn’t actually touched the Warrior yet by this point.
Cue Up Black Goo At 2:25
In the following weeks, the black magic would continue. In one of the more shocking examples of Papa’s voodoo, Shango would light an opponent on fire on the May 30th edition of Superstars. Then on June 7th, the black goo would return, when Shango did something to Mean Gene that caused the black substance to come out of his sleeve during an interview. (With Mean Gene being bald they couldn’t hide it in his hair, so down his sleeve it was). Shango also continued to light his jobber opponents on fire during the month of June.
Also, by June 1992 the Undertaker began teaming with the Ultimate Warrior at live events to go to battle against Papa Shango and the Berzerker. Yes, the Undertaker had been feuding with the Berzerker at this time, so the feuds came together. The Warrior continued to dominate live event matches against Papa Shango, whether they be singles matches or tag team matches. Papa Shango simply never stood chance.
Warrior’s return in 1992 was short lived, however, as he would leave again by November 1992 for rumored reasons that include everything from steroid use, to cutbacks, to having his character moved down the card. Papa Shango would stay around until the summer of 1993 and would return a couple of years later as Kama, and then once again as the well known Godfather character.
As for my personal opinion on the feud, I thought it was an interesting feud and kind of entertaining. Yeah, it was silly with what they were doing, but the WWF during that era was full of cartoon like characters. It was a different attempt to make an angle interesting and you’ve got to give them credit for that.
Personally, I’ve always enjoyed the Papa Shango character, I suppose the character is a guilty pleasure of mine. The character was portrayed very well and the spookiness of the character kept me interested in Shango as a child. Obviously, looking back at the feud and the superstar, Shango wasn’t exactly the best wrestler in the world.
In the long run, this angle hurt Papa Shango. Yeah, he was able to frighten the audience, but when you get so easily dismantled against Warrior for months, it damaged his image. Especially since he had a spell over the guy, you’d think he would have been able to win a match or two.
It would have been interesting if Shango had actually gained possession or control of Warrior somehow and had Warrior do what he wanted him to do. That could have lasted for a while and then have the blow off between Warrior and Shango at Survivor Series or something along those lines would have been fun to see. But, that was never going to happen. The feud was just a way to keep Warrior busy before his feuds with Randy Savage and Ric Flair.
Shockingly, there wasn’t a final showdown between Warrior and Shango on television. Instead, they had a match or two on Coliseum Home Video releases. Of course, Warrior was victorious over Shango each time and the feud lost it spark rather quickly.
What are your memories of the Ultimate Warrior/Papa Shango feud? Feel free to share them or anything regarding either character!
Thanks for reading.
Bob Colling – Wrestling Recaps
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