As many of you know, I attended NXT Takeover: Phoenix and the Royal Rumble this year. The Royal Rumble is one of my favorite pay-per-views and one of the best parts is trying to guess who’s coming out once the timer counts down. It was absolutely amazing to see everyone jump out of their seats whenever certain theme songs played. Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens, and Matt Hardy returned this week and just the first opening measures of their theme music were enough to elicit an electric crowd response. We talk a lot about how movesets, character work, and mic skills are integral to a wrestler’s success, but rarely do we talk about how music can play an important role as well.
Good entrance music becomes synonymous with the wrestler. When you hear it, you know who’s coming out. It plays when they are victorious, blaring through the arena as they celebrate. The music can also be nods of respect to a wrestler’s culture, personal beliefs, or family. It can truly elevate a match or promo, especially if the performer is returning to the ring after an extended absence.
Some wrestlers’ music encourages audience participation as a way to hype them up for the upcoming match. Two examples of this are Fandango and the War Raiders. Fandango’s catchy tune had audiences around the world singing and dancing along while the War Raiders’ theme starts the infectious “War” chants.
Entrance music has to be able to grow and change with the performer as well. Some wrestlers do have pretty much the same theme for years, but you can hear how even those have changed over the years if you listen closely. Sometimes the song changes completely, such as Randy Orton switching from “Burn in My Light” to “Voices”. This symbolized the shift from the young upstart Legend Killer to his Apex Predator character. Seth Rollins added the “Burn it down” intro to his music upon becoming the Kingslayer after defeating Triple H at WrestleMania 33. In a more subtle approach, since Johnny Gargano has slowly turned to the dark side, his theme “Rebel Heart” has had some tweaks to it as well.
The goal of entrance music is to precede the wrestler. It’s to create a crowd response before a single move is performed. The best themes achieve this and then some, working their way into our daily lives as ringtones and alarms. They become the insidious tunes stuck in our heads until we hum them constantly. In some cases, they take us back to our childhoods. Personally, hearing the Hardy Boyz theme instantly transports me back to my early days watching wrestling. I hear the theme and I lose it, even a decade and a half later.
Down the road, after the wrestler has hung up their boots, maybe we hear it again for a surprise appearance or a Hall of Fame induction. And we’ll re-live their glory days and all the time we invested into their career as fans. That’s the power of good entrance music.
-Wynter
