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By far one of the biggest aspects of a professional wrestler’s ring entrance is their theme music. On almost every occasion, you will see wrestlers making their ring entrances to some type of song, whether it be an original, custom song done by a private music studio, a hit single that’s already on the radio, or possibly even a general, open domain song, such as the graduation theme for Randy Savage.
The psychedelic sounds of Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile echoed through arenas all across the country as the turncoat Hollywood Hulk Hogan would make his way down to the ring. He came out after his stable had already gotten into the ring for a group interview to different theme music. As Hollywood Hogan would strut down to ringside, playing the air guitar, usually with his WCW Heavyweight Championship belt, two things were clear: Hogan, in his forties, was a little out of touch with what was then currently “cool”. Also, Hogan was clearly, and unarguably the undisputed leader of the New World Order. Not merely did he make his entrances to the sounds of something dissimilar to his flock of followers, but he did it in style, to the waves of an electric guitar being played by someone widely considered the greatest to ever pick up that instrument. He made a grand entrance, and for whatever reason, WCW’s custom music team simply didn’t fit the bill for this job over Hendrix.
And while Jimi Hendrix’s classic hit did the job just fine, it is my belief that custom music should be used more often than the regular music you hear on the radio. I enjoyed hearing “Rollin” by Limp Bizkit during The Undertaker’s biker days, but really, I can’t honestly say it helped Taker’s character as much as it could have. Songs that appear on the Billboard Top 100 Chart can usually do an alright job in wrestling arenas if the right songs are chosen. But in doing so, you don’t always completely capture the essence of the character you have to provide theme music for. It is not always a sure fire bet that someone like Shawn Michaels or The Ultimate Warrior would have had the true spirit of what their characters embodied being conveyed fully and properly with some type of popular song that you could hear on the radio. You’re missing out on a great opportunity by not making your own, original theme music for your sports entertainers. As the old saying goes, if you want a job done right, do it yourself.
Ultimate Warrior possibly could have made his ring entrances to “Welcome To The Jungle” by Guns N Roses. Or The Heart Break Kid could have come out to the appropriately titled “Heart Break Hotel” by Elvis Presley, or even “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Fred Said. For both wrestlers, those songs in question could possibly work, but not to the highest possible degree. Those are songs that can partially capture what those wrestlers represent when we see them on our TV screens. They can draw a good sketch of what they’re all about, but we don’t get the full picture. When all is said and done, those songs in question we’re never written specifically for the aforementioned wrestlers. They were written with the purpose of the artist expressing something that either meant something deep and personal to him or her, and/or it was made simply to help promote their album sales. The artist wanted to produce something intended to fulfill their own needs, not the needs of Koko B. Ware.
Not that it’s really a bad thing., as there’s nothing stopping you from finding a song that can coincidentally coincide with what a sports entertainer stands for. You should have the power to find at least one appropriate song for a wrestler. It’s not like finding a needle in a haystack, but if you want to find one that can measure up to what an original song can provide, it probably is. It won’t hurt a wrestler so much as it’s missing out on a golden opportunity to help even more.
Ultimately, a song that is made specifically for a character is going to be able to accentuate said character better. It is going to be able to assist greatly in bringing out the best in someone’s ring entrance, and show the audience what this guy is all about. There’s an old saying in the wrestling industry that your match starts the very moment you walk through the curtain. Andre The Giant didn’t have theme music, nor did The Giant in WCW. The silence accentuated their ominous presence.
It is not unlikely for music to play a big role in helping the audience connect with your character. It’s not unlikely that they’re going to get a better sense of who you really are because of your signature song. It can be down right pivotal in helping the fans, both at home and in the arena, to get a feel for what you are all about. Are you devious? Are you an upstanding human being? It’s the wrestler’s role to get that point across, but theme music can definitely lend a hand. When wrestling fans heard Ted Dibiase’s evil laughter over the loud speakers, there was no question as to whether or not he was a “bad guy” or a “good guy”. He was clearly an evil character, who was consumed with what is said to be the root of all evil.
“I think I’m cute.
I know I’m sexy
I got the look
That drives the girls wild
I got the moves
That really move em
….
I’m just a sexy boy
(sexy boy)
I’m not your boy toy…”
Here we have an excerpt from Shawn Michaels’ theme song, which he sung himself. The fact that he sung the song himself will automatically bring more attention to it, just as it did for “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase’s character. Shawn’s character, at least when he first turned heel, was that he was cocky, arrogant, and most of all, infatuated with himself. Basically put, he thought he was God’s gift to both wrestling and to women. He may very well have been the quintessential heel that you loved to hate, and his theme music expressed that very well.
The lyrics, combined with the fact the he himself sung them after the version by Sherri Martel was discontinued, helped the audience get a feel for just how arrogant and conceited this man truly was. He was the epitome of a self absorbed jerk. He was obnoxious, and if his mannerisms didn’t get on people’s nerves, there’s a good chance his conceited singing did. The soulful “Heart Break Hotel” by Elvis Presley just wouldn’t have fit the true style of his character, nor would “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred have done him justice, either. It wasn’t made for his character. It wasn’t made for the Heart Break Kid Shawn Michaels.
Going back to the example of The Ultimate Warrior, I said he could come out to “Welcome To The Jungle” if he wanted to. The screeching singing of Axl Rose and the sounds of Slash wailing away on the guitar could provide a respectable, if not good entrance for him. This energetic song has a wild theme to it, and is very in your face and hard hitting. I can picture it now: Warrior running down to the aisle with his face heavily breathing in and out under a fresh coat of paint, his muscular arms flying in the air with his veins protruding from his bulging biceps, all to the words of “I’m gonna watch you bleed!” This song accentuates qualities that The Ultimate Warrior clearly possesses, and are a huge part of his persona. This musical composition puts a great deal of emphasis on Warrior’s most obvious character traits
But when Guns N Roses wrote that, I’m doubting they had The Ultimate Warrior in mind. While it’s not impossible to find songs on the radio that perfectly fit a wrestler’s character in the same fashion that a band or a team of musicians can, it is usually very tough to do so. It’s been said by Vince McMahon that a lot of the credit for The Ultimate Warrior’s success came from the person who composed his theme music. Recognition for the success for Jim Helwig’s character is said to go to WWE’s custom music team, which is a huge statement, considering how popular Warrior truly was.
In an interview, it was said that the person who developed his entrance song (which has no lyrics) simply got the mental impression of what his character stood for and was all about, and from there composed a song to fit that mental image. And, clearly, it worked. While Welcome To The Jungle, or some other song, could have been an alright choice, it wouldn’t have been as successful in helping to get his character over. In this instance, this wrestler’s entrance was a huge part of his match, more so than the average wrestler, and with the GNR song, or pretty much any song, really, it would have been tough to pull that part off successfully, and it would be an aspect that would have had to have gone to the wayside altogether, or have been emphasized much, much less.
“When it comes crashing down and it hurts inside
I gotta be a man it don’t help to hide
When you hurt my friends
Then you hurt my pride
I got to be a man
I can’t let it slide
I am a real American….
Fight for the rights of every man”
Those are the words to one of the greatest theme songs ever made for a wrestler. Sure, The Hulkster’s theme music was, at one point in time, Survivor’s “Eye Of The Tiger”, which was the signature song from Rocky 3, the movie that made Hulk famous. However, maybe it’s just because “Real American” more closely resembled the classic 80’s rock song from that era, with deep, emotional choruses being the focal points, but this was yet another example where the wrestler’s character could be clearly understood by his theme music. “Eye Of The Tiger” may very well be not just the signature song for Rocky 3, but also for all of 80’s pop culture.
Never the less, “Real American”, helped Hogan more than Rocky 3’s theme song ever could. From this song, you knew he was an American, red white and blue through and through, and had a strong sense of right and wrong, with a seemingly unlimited amount of courage. His great deal of pride, integrity, and patriotism was clearly and openly reflected in this song. Not that you needed to hear his theme music just to understand his character. WWE made sure to market his character right and always gave him adequate amounts of interview time. But his theme music helped him that much more. The pure passion that was put into the song gave the audience a great feel for Hogan on a deeper level. His own passion and intensity were reflected in the song.
But also, not using original theme music can sometimes reflect poorly on the company. I enjoyed The Sandman’s entrance in the original ECW as much as anybody. It was a spectacle seeing the out of shape, politically incorrect, drunken S.O.B. make his entrance through the crowd to the tune of “Enter Sandman”, one of Metallica’s hit songs from their Black Album in the early nineties. And in this instance, maybe it was a good thing for Paul Heyman to have gone out and to have gotten the rights to that music.
Maybe it was a good thing that Paul spent some extra money to go out and get the rights to a radio hit like that. But overall, seeing Raven come out to “Come Out And Play” by The Offspring, Tommy Dreamer make his way to the ring to “Man In The Box” by Alice In Chains, etc., just made everything look second rate. Those were good songs, in my opinion, but it just didn’t look like ECW had the talent or the first rate assets to come up with music on their own. Having your own wrestling promotion is one thing. Having your own talented music production studio within your own company can make it look all that much more professional.
It’s kind of an odd concept. It costs a good deal of money to get the rights to use music from big name bands like Metallica, and the fans understand this. It’s kind of like ordering in from Pizza Hut in favor of making a delicious, home cooked meal. Pizza Hut is very marketable, and is a very successful restaurant chain that can obviously make some great pizza. However, what does it really say about your company when you can’t make your own great home cooked meal, and instead have to order out?
But even so, it may have had a somewhat beneficial effect on the company as a whole, considering the state ECW was in. It may have had an effect on the company that helped out to at least some significant degree. The original ECW in the nineties was about having an extreme attitude, and was about marketing itself to the demographic who watched wrestling. Hit rock songs from the top of the charts can be a semi-positive thing for the company overall, if done properly. No, it can not put as much emphasis as one would like on someone’s makeup, persona, and moral fiber as an original song can. You can not be positive that you’re going to get something the same way as you would with a song that is specially crafted just for your particular sports entertainer.
And yes, it may make the company look second rate, depending on how you see things. But yet, in this instance, it helped ECW in the fact that it helped them to connect with a certain demographic, and helped overall to give a certain feel to their company. A company like ROH may possibly need to use theme music from hit songs already on the radio, as it may help appeal to a much wider audience, but if they ever do make it pretty big, they will, in my opinion, have to step up and use their own music studio. They’ll have to show that they can produce what they need to on their own, and be first rate all the way.
WWE has used the idea of utilizing radio a number of times, but overall, it’s only been used on relatively few occasions. From as early as “Eye Of The Tiger” for Hulk Hogan and “Another One Bites The Dust” by Queen for The Junk Yard Dog, to Edge coming out to “Metalingus” by Alter Bridge, it’s something that can, as ECW tried to do, appeal more to a certain demographic. It can appeal more to the certain type of fan base that you are trying to reach. The sounds of Freddie Mercury belting out the famous Queen chorus is legendary, and given it’s more timely state, it certainly appealed to fans of that time.
Unfortunately, as of right now, harder rock songs, which are usually much better suited for wrestling, have been faded out of the main stream almost completely. “Let The Bodies Hit The Floor” was used in promotional vignettes for more than one pay per view (Summer Slam ’01, ECW ONS ’05), and at neither time was it really a main stream hit. Most harder rock music is sort of at a cross between underground and mainstream, with it leaning much farther towards underground. It really is an asset that has been lost by professional wrestling in general, really.
While it can fail to help embody what a particular athlete is all about, it can also help to just give certain wrestlers a big feel atmosphere when they come to the ring, simply because they have a big song by an established band. One that they actually know the name of. As I started off this column, Hollywood Hogan made his entrances to Voodoo Chile by Jimi Hendrix during some of his days in WCW. This was an established song, a true rock classic. One that promoted what forty year plus Hogan was trying to be, and something that has stood the test of time. More importantly, it was performed by a legendary artist, and gave Hogan’s image some extra appeal.
The Undertaker experienced this with both of his songs “Rollin’” and Kid Rock’s “American Bad Ass”, and it helped them all that much more due to the fact that they were not doing this in ECW; that meaning, they were one of the few that were able to do it in their own company. It set them apart from the pack. The red carpet was being rolled out for them, because they were big time main eventers. They truly deserved just a little bit more.
Guys like Triple H and Chris Jericho have had custom theme songs made for them by big name bands such as Motorhead and Saliva. And, this really is the best, most ideal scenario you can ask for. It really doesn’t get much better than this for either the wrestler or for the company as a whole as far as theme music is concerned. Triple H not only has the prestige and honor of having his own theme song by a major, big name band, but also gets to have it done exclusively for him. When you start to hear Lemmy’s voice belt out “Time To Play The Game”, it is something that captures the true essence of Triple H’s character. He is someone who carries himself as the absolute best in the business, and definitely nothing short of that.
No, we’re never going to hear Triple H’s music on the radio (save for King Of Kings, which is an incredible favor on Motorhead’s part to Trips), but you can’t reasonably ask for something more than the situation he’s in. He has pretty much everything he could want, really, when he makes his grand entrance to the ring. The special lighting effects, the extra time given for the entrance, and a major band you just heard on your way over to the arena singing his theme song.
On top of that, it makes it appear as if those particular wrestlers have earned and warranted themselves the privilege to have custom theme songs made for them from top level bands, which in itself is a huge rub. How would you feel to have Metallica produce a new song specifically for you? It would be quite an honor, and an awesome experience as well.
Theme songs in wrestling that were also used as hit songs on your local radio stations can be beneficial to a degree in professional wrestling. They can, to an extent, accentuate the special characteristics of a wrestler. Or they can also help appeal to the demographic for which the promotion wants to market itself. Or it can, at times, help set a wrestler apart as a true main eventer, almost as if they’re getting special treatment and having the red carpet rolled out for them. On rare occasions, high level music artists will compose and perform special songs just for professional wrestlers, and that, quite frankly, is the epitome of everything you can reasonably ask for in terms of signature songs. In my opinion, all of these ways of using theme music can be beneficial, but sometimes the benefits will either go directly to the promotion, or indirectly to the promotion as a whole through how it helps their wrestlers.
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