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Wrestler Theme Hidden Gems | Roundtable
Welcome to the #PWMRoundtable, a discussion where PWM contributors weigh in on their views, this week on some of our contributors’ sentimental favourites of wrestler music themes – hidden gems.
These conversations will range from the serious to the silly and from the latest controversy to questions from deep in wrestling history. Anything pro-wrestling related is fair game, the only limitations being that the debate remain friendly and that we bring some insight that makes it worth your time as a reader
This edition’s contributors are Emiliana, Sergei, and Sir Sam. Our moderator organizing it all (as well as writing up a lot of the contributions) is Sam Preston.
A page of links to prior installments may be found here: #Roundtable
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Wrestling Themes Roundtable
moderated by Sam Preston
There are few things more beloved in wrestling than a great wrestling theme song. Whether singing along as part of a live audience, or reacting in shock at a beloved return, or just a feeling of appreciation, music is as vital an element of every wrestler as their look, name or finisher. Randy Orton famously detested his original solo theme, “Burn In My Light” (even though I had a soft spot for it) as he didn’t think it represented his character enough, unlike the preferable “Voices”. The Undertaker is a quintessential example of how his music theme conveyed the importance of who his character was, whether his original run from 92-98 as ‘The Deadman’, 98-99 as a more satanic ‘Ministry’, 2000-02 as the ‘American Bad Ass’, 02-03 as the embittered veteran who was adamant his opponents would pay, and so forth.
Due to that, the team have decided to come together and discuss some old favourites, nostalgic throwbacks, or emotionally defining music that they loved.
Horsemen ‘98 Theme
by Jimmy Hart & Howard Helm
for the Four Horsemen
by Sam Preston.
There are many great stables with excellent theme tunes, such as the New World Order, the NWO Wolf Pack, D-Generation X, or Evolution, ones that made you want to get together with your friends and re-enact their ring entrance. But it’s the timeless element of the music that helps make the ‘98 rendition of the Four Horsemen stand out. Utilised when Ric Flair returned to WCW alongside his old friend Arn Anderson, former stable mates Steve ‘Mongo’ McMichael and Chris Benoit, and new but perfectly suited member Dean Malenko, it accomplishes being both a throwback and relevant for the modern 90s.
Starting off with the sounds of horse’s hooves running and neighing in seeming disgust, the beating of some drums in anticipation with a bass tripping in the background, it suddenly curtails into an awesome guitar chord that evokes both a sense of elegance and achievement. As the theme continues, the guitar is reminiscent of an 80s rock band hitting their big solo, something for the audience to rock out to. To this point, the music has been evocative, bringing to mind the well-dressed and styled essence of the 80s Horsemen, a hint of a classical element that harkens back to the experience and knowledge of the 4 Horsemen.
And then, just over a minute in, it transitions into consistent drumbeats and chords, akin to a methodical breakdown of an opponent, interspersed at times with fast paced guitar chords, culminating in the second minute of a celebratory guitar chord that has a fist-punching air to it. In a two minute and thirty second song, the entire essence of the Four Horsemen is encompassed, a speed run of their lives; arriving big as a team, looking cool and awesome, before decimating their opponents in the ring as the best wrestlers, and ending in celebration and victory. During this time, it was very easy to ridicule WCW themes as rip-offs or repetitive, yet every now and again, a little gem would occur, and it lambasts me that this tune is not just severely underappreciated but almost barely known.
Sir Sam: Only marks against this one are when the drums kick in it reminds me of Sabu’s excellent theme:
That guitar though is so damn slick.
Sergei: This really is kind of a banger. The clear tone of the guitar is a classic. Sam makes a really interesting point about the way the sounds can sometimes directly represent the characters, not just by association, but in more of an onomatopoeia way.
“The Final Countdown” by Europe
for Bryan Danielson
by Sir Sam.
As just a song, “The Final Countdown” is not a great song.
Without too much trouble, I could write a list of 1001 Songs to Hear Before You Die and leave off “The Final Countdown” without a second thought. The song structure is simplistic, musically it is one note, overly repetitive, has zero lyrical depth, hell the chorus is five words and a synth riff. The entire package is coated in a veneer of plastic gloss and inauthentic cheese that as a music lover turns me off completely. Does that make me a music snob? I say it makes me someone of artistic discernment and taste, and for all these reasons you’ll never find me seeking this song out. However, for all of these reasons, “The Final Countdown” is the greatest licensed wrestling theme of all time.
There are other licensed tunes that compete with it. “Enter Sandman” by Metallica scoring the entrance of the folk-hero beating heart of ECW:
“Cult of Personality” fits CM Punk so well lyrically that it has practically become synonymous with him:
“Metallingus” is a song with lyrics speaking of living in the moment that fit the vibe of a wrestling show perfectly:
And there was never anyone cooler than Atsushi Onita when he walked into the Tokyo Dome, took a seat and lit a last cigarette before an Exploding Barbed Wire match while “Wild Thing” blared:
Final Countdown tops them all, though.
What makes it great is the way it rises and swells over and over again. The classic 80s dual Roland and Yamaha synths soar from the start with the intro drone and Joey Tempest gives the lyrics his full voice from the moment he starts. The lyrics may as well just be sounds (seriously it was only in researching this piece that I found out the line “we’re leaving ground” wasn’t “believe in love”) but what everyone knows and more importantly, what everyone feels, is how Tempest attacks every word as if it is his last.
That plastic and cheesiness that cake the song goes from a turn-off to the perfect accompaniment to pro wrestling pageantry, making a bingo hall feel like a packed out arena and a stadium feel like it is overflowing.
The magic moment of course, hits when Tempest screams the title of the song and those synths jump a forth, from an C# all the way up to an F# in the signature riff, and just when you thought the song is already aflight, it soars still higher. All of this energy is perfect for a wrestling show where what you need in an entrance, particularly right before a main event, is energy. Both the title of the track and the riff are perfect for crowd participation.
While the song stands alone as an entrance theme, I think also it fits so well with the wrestler who used it: Bryan Danielson. The American Dragon was a wrestler who so often came out for the final match of the card and, through his career from indy darling, to WWE superstar, to AEW retirement, wrestled every single match like it was the final match he would wrestle on this Earth.
Sergei: I want to fight you about “Countdown” not being a great song… but when you define it as “wouldn't be greatly missed left off a 1001 greatest songs list”... Well… OKAYYYY, if you put it THAT way…. I feel like there's more like a million songs worthy of being considered great on some level, and “Final Countdown” belongs there, cheese and all. One other point: “Final Countdown” was especially apt as a special throwback theme for Wembley 2024 when we all thought it might've been Dragon’s actual last match!
Emiliana: This might be a hot take, but I actively dislike when Danielson comes out to Final Countdown. I am quite a big fan of the ass-shaking theme he has in AEW, Born For Greatness. Whoever the woman (or women?) [ed. It's a guy – Elliot Taylor] on the music track is, her voice and the beat that remixes Flight of the Valkyries gives Danielson a vibe that I appreciate. He’s a little freak, and having a very pop-type theme makes me incredibly happy, because when you see him you don’t expect it. It’s the kind of dissonance in appearance and music that I feel encompasses him as a person way better than Final Countdown.
Sam Preston: I’m definitely inclined to agree that “Final Countdown” would easily miss off a list of 1001 Greatest Songs, but I think that speaks to a bigger discussion of how a great song doesn’t necessarily make a great wrestling theme song, but it’s what that music evokes that makes it so fantastic. Especially this banger by Europe, which although you’d never nominate it as a great song, if it came on in a bar, or at a party, or a wrestling show, most people would lock in and sing along. And by locking in, ironically, it makes it a perfect wrestling theme song.
“The Rising Sun” by CFO$
for Shinsuke Nakamura
Special performer: Lee England Jr
by Sergei.
Some of the greatest wrestling themes of all time are basically a simple melodic hook that everyone can instantly recognize and associate with the character: in short, a leitmotif. One of the best examples is the Rock’s theme: BAH… BAH bah BAH … baba BA! Everybody knows that means that Dwayne Johnson is sprinting to the ring to lay some smack down. I was absolutely going to pick that, but memory wears some rose colored glasses sometimes: the melody is a perfect little hook that tells you “hell yeah, it’s the Rock!” but the actual music? Uh…
That sounds like the over-embellished crappy remix of something great, except the great original only exists in our nostalgia – which is a fine metaphor for the Attitude Era in general…
Another theme that had a great simple melody like that was Shinsuke Nakamura’s NXT theme. If you weren’t watching the black-and-gold era NXT, I don’t think I can express to you what an absolute STAR Nakamura was to us watching then. It was a connection between performer and audience that transcended language. Shinsuke didn’t say much, and his few words were obscured by an almost impenetrable accent. And his theme had no lyrics, just a simple melody on a single violin that every voice in the arena would join in with. Aaaah aaah ah ah ah nananana na! nananana na!
His aura was transcendent.
Another thing that’s really cool about wrestlers’ walkout themes is that every once in a while for a big show, they’ll have a musician perform it live, and that can really bring something special. And one of the best of those ever (THE best, in my opinion) was when they brought in violinist Lee England Jr to play out Nakamura for his challenge to Samoa Joe’s NXT Championship at the second Brooklyn Takeover show.
Sometimes when you put two incredibly charismatic people on the stage, their auras clash and overshadow each other. NOT the case here! Lee England Jr has this amazing presence that only enhances Nakamura’s aura as they both play off of each other and off of the amazing energy of the audience singing along and sending all of that energy back to the performers. It’s been over ten years now, and that moment is as fresh in my mind as when I first watched it.
Sam Preston: Absolute banger, and I think it perfectly encompasses the Freddie Mercury-esque charisma that Nakamura demonstrates, how in NJPW and NXT when he came out, he had the audience in the palm of his hand. To some degree, this is Nakamura’s Queen at Wembley moment, where the music, performers, and crowd clicked in the purest of connections.
Sir Sam: Nakamura has history of incredible themes. Rising Sun is awesome of course, I even really enjoy the rap remix the WWE gave him when he turned heel. His best theme though is his NJPW theme Subconcious:
For me the guitars give him a coolness that the grandiosity of Rising Sun’s violin misses.
Emiliana: This theme is one of my GOATs, I won’t lie.
“Crusade” by Mizuki Hattori
for Utami Hayashishita
by Emiliana.
My brother once thought this entrance theme was Kenny Omega’s, and that should clue you in to how godly it truly is. I have only been watching STARDOM since this year’s All Star Grand Queendom, but already I have fallen in love with Utami Hayashishita from the moment she made her return to STARDOM at the end of May. And a big part of it is truly in the presentation, as this song hit me like crack from the first notes:
Immediately, you get hit with a renaissance era sounding harpsichord and a male choir that sounds like Gregorian monks, transporting you across time and space to give you the sense that this woman is, to steal from another great female wrestler, timeless. And not just timeless, but grandiose. The male choir builds to a crescendo, the harpsichord is replaced by strings in which now a female choir takes up the call. And then the harpsichord comes back in with a catchy beat, the male choir comes back in, and then we get a whole slew of instruments that bring us back into the present moment, adding an electric guitar to really push that sense of, “this is a rockstar.”
But not just any rockstar. The wrestler making their entrance, or winning the match, is in a league of her own. Very few in STARDOM walk out and evoke this level of feeling as Utami does. She is a final boss type of wrestler, even if the current booking may not convey it (don’t worry, I’m fully in honeymoon phase with STARDOM and believe this is building to something great). Saya Kamitani – her former tag-team partner, and the one who eclipsed her – has a similarly badass theme of her own. But I think I like Utami’s more because it has an elegance that matches her allure – if you see her first, she is like a renaissance painting. Sculpted cheekbones, a body full of curves, and a deep, enticing gaze. But the moment she steps into the ring, she is a rockstar, throwing tough lariats and taking harsh bumps and landing on her head in ways that make you ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ and wince in anticipation. Her theme is a projection of all of that and more. It makes you want to pay attention. It is absolutely perfect.
Sam Preston: This is one I’d definitely cite as a hidden gem, as before Emiliana recommended it, I’d never even heard of it. And yet, the moment it played, I was 100% in. Such a godly theme that helps stand out, I admit to listening to this several times whilst editing this article together. Great choice, and I’d love to see this live one day…
Sergei: I agree that the mix of baroque harpsichord and the Gregorian (or Orff-ian) sounding chorus with the 16-bit sounding electronica evokes an eclectic timelessness.
“Black Hat” by Vincent Pedulla
for Hangman Adam Page
by Sergei.
A lot of wrestling themes are made by musicmakers who have built a career of crafting music for wrestlers: Jim Johnston, CFO$, and more recently Mikey Rukus. Most of the music you hear on an episode of AEW Dynamite is Rukus, and there’s some great ones. Everybody loves “MY SHADOW KNOWS MY STORY”!
But there’s one notable exception that isn’t Ruckus and isn't a song some wrestler brought with them from before AEW, like Copeland’s Metalingus singalong… and that’s Hangman’s theme.
It’s a piece of music that the eclectic Adam Page discovered himself and realized was the perfect song for his character, so he reached out to the composer directly.
That song is called “Ghost Town Triumph” and it’s a perfect leitmotif for Hangman and one of my favorite walk-outs ever:
– but you’ll notice that is NOT the title at the top of this section. That’s because Page has continued to go back and work with Pedulla as he’s needed new music for different situations. One of these was a one-night-only theme called “Hangman’s Tale” that Emiliana will tell us more about below. But another was a piece that Pedulla created because Page called him up and asked if he could make him something new because it was time for him to wear the Black Hat for a while.
A little context is needed to understand the impact that change of music had. The utility of a leitmotif is that you recognize it. You know to react with joy or dread because you know who that melody is herading. But the first time we heard “Black Hat” was the exception, because of a surprise that wasn’t a surprise…
Adam Page had been offscreen for weeks while his despised nemesis Swerve Strickland ascended to the World championship. The Owen Hart memorial tournament was an eight-man knockout tourney for a shot at the champion at the annual stadium show, and among the eight men vying for that spot was one “surprise” wildcard entrant. In that situation – with a shot at Strickland in the highest profile situation possible on the line – everyone just knew that the surprise had to be the Hangman… so when an unfamiliar, sinister (but still Western-ish) melody began to play, we still knew who would be emerging from the shadows and pyro smoke. The new melody just meant that Hangman was… different now. (Or perhaps had begun to accept how different he had already become.)
Honestly, it was everything that the story arc of Anakin descending to become Vader reached for but failed to grasp in Revenge of the Sith.
Emiliana: I listen to Prelude to Black and Black Hat one after the other, and it makes me so happy. All of Hangman’s themes rule, of course.
Sam Preston: To put it bluntly, I don’t think there’s a single Adam Page theme that I don’t love. His music embodies not just his character, but his emotions at any given time… and as a representation of the dark path Hangman descended down, this theme is perfection. It has enough to harken back to his beloved ‘Hangman’s Tale’, but enough changes to not feel repetitive or superfluous. That sting of dunh, dunh, dunh, is the moment of recognition that this is a whole different level of “Cowboy Shit”.
“Hangman’s Tale” by Vincent Pedulla
for Hangman Adam Page
by Emiliana.
(JR voice) By God, it’s Emi with the third Hangman theme of the night! This theme has only ever been used once, and it was during the post-pandemic summer tour of 2021, when Hangman and the Dark Order found themselves head to head with the Super Elite. If I could bottle the emotions of that match from entrance till the second bell rang and put it into a perfume to wear every day, I would make a bazillion dollars. But what made Hangman’s entrance with the Dark Order so special that fateful night on television was partly to do with this theme; and while Justin Roberts may have announced them as “The Dark Order and Hangman Adam Page,” the lower third told a different story – merely reading: “The Dark Order”. From the first whistle that has so clearly become a staple to Hangman, the crowd was ravenous. A video package played on the screen as a voice asked, “What is it that makes a cowboy?” The video cut to each member of the Dark Order, the shadow behind them on the wall portraying a figure with a cowboy hat, though in the end the narrating voice came to the conclusion that you did not need one to be a cowboy.
Because a cowboy is someone who embodies positive values as opposed to an aesthetic, someone who carries on despite hardships. Throughout it all, this theme was playing, a far more theatrical version of Hangman’s original “Ghost Town Triumph”, until it crescendo’d to reveal each member of the Dark Order in turn under spotlights on the entrance ramp (including one empty spotlight in remembrance of Brodie Lee), and finally Hangman appeared as the music fully delved in. The crowd erupted. No night of wrestling television (barring both of Hangman’s world title wins) has ever felt so positively magical, and it is the music that ties it all together. Though the track doesn’t fully play out during this moment, if you make it to the end, you can hear the sound of a horse panting, the sound of boots on the ground, and then a beer bottle opening, followed in the end by gunshots and that whistle again. It’s just a perfect theme. I feel like it could be used for a western film’s trailer and no one would be the wiser. It builds and falls perfectly to my ears. It may not work for some, and I’m totally aware that a big part of it is because the time and place in which it was used holds a special place in my heart. But it rips.
Sergei: A magical theme for a magical night, no doubt.
Sir Sam: A beautiful moment of Hangman finally finding his crew. The build up to this match was just so wholesome with The Dark Order helping him overcome his own insecurities and letting him know it was his time. Wrestling has only rarely ever captured such an overwhelmingly wholesome note as it did with this entrance.
Sam Preston: I wouldn’t often say this, but I think Emi’s description that this music piece “rips” almost undersells how absolutely magical the story portrayed on that night was. Emi’s description thankfully conveys the level of awesomeness that this entry represents, as it combines a plethora of great elements. The heartfelt storytelling of both Page and the Dark Order over the previous year, the evocative musical instruments, and vastly underrated, the voiceover. It’s a wondrous moment that still holds up years later, and every now and again, when I need a bit of building up and momentum, I tune into this famous entry. Great choice!
“With My Baby Tonight”
by Jeff Jarrett?
by Sam Preston.
I first began watching wrestling at the tail end of ‘97, specifically WCW, with my first memories being of Curt Hennig and Lex Luger exchanging axe handles in the ring. I was an adamant viewer of Nitro and Thunder in ‘98, and even a weekly watcher in ‘99 (it’s amazing I survived this into a love of wrestling). And one music theme ingrained into my memory was the West Texas Rednecks (Curt Hennig, Bobby Duncan Jr, Barry Windham and Kendal Windham) singing “Rap is Crap”, a catchy tune that may have subconsciously prevented me trying the Rap genre for at least another 2-3 years. Never really capitalized upon by WCW despite it reaching #1 in the music charts (quintessential WCW), it still has a soft spot within my heart. Which is likely why to no surprise, when I bought the WWF Anthology Album in 2002 (which featured three CDs, one for Classic Themes, one for Attitude, and one for Ruthless Aggression), one of my favourite songs was the similarly created “With My Baby Tonight”.
A rather simplistic Country Western song, what makes it successful is how easily it utilises the tropes and styles of the genre, aping it in a manner that on the surface may seem a spoof but underneath the surface is a tremendous homage. A catchy chorus with lyrics suited for a singalong at karaoke, part of me cannot help but ponder whether the fact it was a wrestling song meant people automatically tarred it as bad, when in fact, it demonstrates what a genius Jim Johnston was. Many wrestling companies would likely have it that the song would be overtly cheesy, or too smug, or tongue-in-cheek. Johnston instead was too talented not to make an underrated banger that could have fitted on any country top 10 music songs.
Sergei: I definitely agree with Sam P that this is a catchy fun little Country tune, but I’m surprised he didn’t address at all how the song was used in the story, which I think is the most interesting part! It’s the classic tale of the egotistical star stealing and taking credit for an underling’s work… (Thus the “?” above when crediting the song to Jarrett…) You see, the wrestler most famous as “Road Dog” got that ring name originally because he was supposedly Country singer Jarrett’s “roadie”... BUT it’s later revealed that he was the one with the actual golden pipes and Jarrett had just been lip synching all along! …A really fun and original hook for a feud, I think.
Sir Sam: I echo Sergei’s thoughts that the thing that makes it great was how it became part of a story line, I can’t think of too many other theme songs that were used in that way.
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