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World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and music have continuously shared an unbreakable bond for as long as 1972 when the company first debuted under the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) brand. The role music plays alongside its pro wrestling stars is unlike any other as it helps create familiarity and recognizability with each individual star. Typically music’s involvement stems from serving as the entrance music for each star. This helps set the tone of each wrestler’s personality and generates crowd reactions. While most of their music is produced in-house, special appearances with artists outside of WWE have solidified themselves as a new norm.
WWE & The Relationship Between Music: The Originator
Most notably, Jim Johnston is credited for the many iconic theme songs the WWE has had over the years that could be recognized by any person regardless if they’re a fan of pro wrestling. His career with the company came to an end in 2017 after working with them for 32 years. Despite his release from the company, his music is still being used and heard. For example, we’ve all heard the shattered glass sound effect that is then followed by an aggressive riff; right away, as fans, we associate this with the “Rattlesnake” Stone Cold Steve Austin and visualize him aggressively walking to the ring while sporting his signature sleeveless leather vest.
In Stone Cold’s Broken Skull Podcast, Johnston was invited on as a guest and discussed his procedure for creating the song. He explained it was largely influenced by Rage Against the Machine’s “Bulls on Parade.” Along with this song, he would study Stone Cold’s mannerisms and compose instrumentals based on his walking, talking, and overall movements. His contributions extend past Stone Cold’s theme song and are behind some of the most memorable entrance songs of both present and retired WWE Superstars. To name a few, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Eddie Guerrero, Randy Orton, The Miz, and The Undertaker.
The First Artist Collaboration: Cyndi Lauper & Wendi Richter
But aside from Jim Johnston’s contributions, musical artists outside of the show have made their own memorable moments through collaborating with WWE. The first being the rock icon Cyndi Lauper, most known for her hit single “Girls Just Want To Have Fun.” Lauper would take her talents to accompany WWE Hall of Famer Wendi Richter to the ring at her entrance for the first-ever Wrestlemania event, which would serve as WWE’s annual flagship pay-per-view event. At this event, Lauper would not only accompany Richter to the ring as a musical guest but as her manager.
The rock star would find herself being choked by her wrestler’s opponent’s manager, Fabulous Moolah, and would ultimately help Richter win the WWF Women’s Championship. Before Wrestlemania, Lauper made weekly appearances on the show to help promote the match and establish herself as a legitimate wrestling manager through backstage interviews. She also established her relationship with WWE by featuring Captain Lou Albano in her music video for “Girls Just Want To Have Fun.”
Bringing Metal to WWE: Lemmy Kilmister & Motörhead
Another star in the realm of rock and metal is the lead singer and guitarist of Motörhead, Lemmy Kilmister. Motörhead, in their own right, had already been known for their worldwide success with their 1980s hit “Ace of Spades.” Lemmy’s relationship is strictly entrance-based, but his contributions have been vital to pro wrestler Triple H. In 2001, Kilmister and his band would be behind “The Game’s” biggest hit songs, such as Triple H’s “The Game” theme song, which featured Lemmy’s vocals opening the track with a hard riff and saying. “Time to play the game!” followed by an evil chuckle.
The song would be performed at Multiple Wrestlemania events along with Kilmister’s “Evolution,” which served as the theme song for Triple H’s tag team stable who shared the same name of the theme song. Without this theme music, Triple H’s WWE career most likely would not have spiraled out to what it became. Before becoming “The Game,” his character largely consisted of being Hunter Hearst Helmsley, a wealthy, sophisticated know-it-all who would enter the ring with slow-tempo upbeat medieval-inspired theme music.
Expanding Genres: Snoop Dogg And The WWE
WWE’s collaborative efforts would include more than just rock stars as many wrestler’s theme songs explore different genres. Long Beach native Snoop Dogg would appear alongside his cousin and current WWE Women’s Champion, Sasha Banks, as he rapped a verse for Sasha’s theme song live during her entrance at Wrestlemania 32.
After this entrance, Sasha’s entrance for regular shows would continuously feature his version of the song. Snoop’s prior relationship with the company had him being a guest host for a Monday Night Raw show and introducing the matches for that night. It’s fair to say Snoop most likely helped Sasha get into the WWE as they’ve been seen together posing backstage with previous superstars before her debut in WWE in 2012. His involvement would solidify him into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016.
Bringing In New Up And Comer’s: WWE & NXT
Outside of Wrestlemania appearances and well-known artists, WWE collaborates with up-and-coming artists by collaborating with them through theme songs for every pay-per-view they host for their main brand shows, Raw or Smackdown, and their developmental show NXT, which features up-and-coming talent. Some of the most recognizable being rapper Denzel Curry, whose song “Ricky” served as NXT Take Over War Games 2019’s theme song, as well as metal artist Poppy who’s music would be featured upon regular NXT event’s and most recently at NXT’s Halloween Havoc event in 2020. This further demonstrates how vital music plays a role in wrestling as it contributes to the theme of each individual event.
The Latest Collaboration: Bad Bunny Takes Over WWE
Currently, the biggest artist making his run in WWE is Grammy award-winning Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny. The “Conejo Malo” would find himself performing his hit song “Booker T,” a tribute song inspired by Bunny’s love for wrestling and WWE Hall of Famer Wrestler Booker T at WWE’s Royal Rumble. During the Royal Rumble, he was placed in a storyline against tag team Miz and Morrison for rejecting their offer to collaborate with the artist. This would result in the Miz sabotaging the rapper’s music booth and Bad Bunny coming down to the ring to confront him.
This confrontation resulted in Bunny climbing to the top turnbuckle of the ring and diving outside at both Miz and Morrison. This segment would lead to WWE releasing t-shirt’s featuring the rapper’s dive and would generate the greatest number of sales of any current WWE Superstar in 2021; despite Bunny only being a temporary member of the roster, this artist has brought more eyes and profits to the company. Bunny’s impact led to him prominently appear in WWE’s weekly shows of Raw. He was also paired with WWE superstar Damien Priest, who is also of Puerto Rican descent. The two are being featured weekly on Raw during backstage segments and during matches where Bunny supports Priest ringside.
The rap star found himself winning the 24/7 Championship, a title that, unlike others, is always on the line; the rules for this belt include that the champion can be pinned at any point regardless of whether a proper match is held. He recently gave up the belt in a backstage segment out of respect to the wrestling business, acknowledging that he is merely a special guest. After giving up the belt, his latest showing had him hitting Miz with a guitar and accepting the wrestler’s challenge to face off at this year’s Wrestlemania on either night of this two-night event taking place on April 10th and 11th against the Miz with his tag team partner, John Morrison ringside.
The Synthesis Between Music & Wrestling
The roles these artists have had with WWE continuously expand; Bunny, unlike his predecessors, finds himself in a match. This leaves viewers thinking about what other events could come out of future artists who collaborate with the brand as music will indefinitely continue to remain a vital component that brings in fans and helps establish the many wrestlers in their roster. If it weren’t for music or featured artists, the fanbase WWE has generated and continued to generate would not be what it is today. It is safe to say collaborations with artists are here to stay permanently as long as WWE continues to produce its weekly shows and monthly pay-per-views.
Great piece! I’ve been a wrestling fan since a kid