Last week, Bill Simmons unleashed his not very good list of pro wres themes. His rule of instant recogonizability will still stand for me. It’s clear that Simmons’ taste in wrestling music is as good as his taste in tv shows.
For my list, I picked mainly WWE songs. There were a few WCW tracks that I had in mind, like Jeff Jarrett‘s, DDP‘s (self high five), or Dean Malenko‘s, or even Lex Luger‘s, but the first two are mainstream song rip offs, and the other two can’t quite make the cut. ROH has some good themes, but I couldn’t quite pull the trigger. Gimme Back My Bullets was a great theme for the Briscoe Brothers, and Roderick Strong has a catchy theme, but they aren’t top 10. I don’t really like many TNA themes. Madison Rayne‘s song is very catchy and a guilty pleasure of mine. The Motor City Machine Guns have a kick ass theme, but not quite good enough. Get Ready to Fly gets me pumped for AJ Styles, but it’s not on the list. There are some WWE themes that didn’t make the cut. Randy Orton‘s theme fits him perfectly, Christian‘s old song is a favorite of mine, and the Miz‘s song just missed. Same with Drew McIntyre and the Nexus.
We kick off this list of the Bearcats Blog’s 10 top wrestling themes with the closest runners up.
17) Sheamus. It’s one of the better new themes, the linked version has the seldom heard beginning part. Plus,
16) Kings of Wrestling. One of the best ROH songs. Kings reign supreme don’t ya know.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sQXVSVLZXE&w=480&h=390]
15) Demolition. Here comes the Ax, here comes the Smasher, the Demoltion walking disaster.
14) Hulk Hogan. I know this theme is iconic, and for good reason. But, to me, it’s played out. Kenny Powers used it. Obama used it. It’s become a song for America. Voodoo Child was a good theme, but it’s hard to steal that one from Hendrix. I do the Hulk Hogan pantomime knock it down with the side of my hand when I hear that song though.
13) Ultimate Warrior. No other wrestling theme had me as pumped up as a child than this. I loved the Warrior. The face paint, the tassels, shaking the ropes, running to the ring, the Gorilla press, and the song fit perfectly.
12) Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase. Everybody’s got a price.
11) Cult of Personality – CM Punk. This one is incredibly new, but it fits Punk to a tee. Punk used it during the Summer of Punk when he was ROH champion, and has brought it back now that he’s WWE champion. I’m not a huge fan of the song, but my bias hasn’t stopped it from being in my head all week. I would have rather Punk come back to this though.
10) Kevin Steen. I really like this song, Unsettling Differences by Blue Smock Nancy. It’s the version Steen used before Final Battle, and his war with El Generico.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmI7vbg69tk&w=480&h=390]
9) Kurt Angle. Kurt Angle’s theme was originally used by the Patriot. What made a retread theme possibly iconic? The You Suck chants that fit absolutely perfectly 10 seconds into the song. Face or heel, the fans always chanted You Suck. Angle tried to play it off like they were chanting it at his opponent, but it never really worked. Angle goes bat shit over the chants in this video, which showcases it beautifully.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUznW0sx4eE&w=480&h=390]
8) Gangrel. Gangrel wasn’t one of the best wrestlers in the WWF. But, his entrance was bad ass. The fire, the blood spitting, and the kick ass song, it all worked.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQcgOmzVSp4&w=480&h=390]
7) Chris Jericho. Simmons touched on this in his piece, but Jericho’s theme is great. This is the original song, which was Jericho’s theme for not very long. There is a reason Y2J never really changed his song during his WWE career, he’s got one of the best.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYuhY_CM5zs&w=480&h=390]
6) nWo. This was the song of something new in wrestling. It became played out when everyone in WCW was in the nWo, but for a while there, when the music hit, things got fun. 4 life.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWZ0gJ0HAyA&w=480&h=390]
5) Ric Flair. Ric Flair is one of the icons in wrestling history. He had many great moments, like this. I chose his entrance for WrestleMania 24 for the video, just because it was electric. Woooooooooooooooooooo.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFxCI3CamM0&w=480&h=390]
4) Stone Cold Steve Austin. Stone Cold has one of the defining themes of a generation. When the glass breaks, you know hell is about to be raised. While many like the classic Austin theme, I prefer the Disturbed version.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa-InpeDb-c&w=480&h=390]
3) Edge. I don’t know if AlterBridge wrote Metalingus for Edge, but it certainly seems that way. I can’t imagine Edge coming out to any other song. That’s how much this blows away his previous themes. Songs can define wrestlers, and wrestlers can define songs. This did both.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7dyu50SCxc&w=480&h=390]
2) ECW. It’s cheating lumping all of ECW together as number 2, but ECW cheated by using real songs. Sandman used Enter Sandman. Taz used War Machine by Kiss. Rob Van Dam used Walk. Tommy Dreamer used Man in the Box. Rhino’s song kicked ass too. Using real songs means that you can’t be number one. The best use of a song was New Jack. To this day, when I hear this song I see New Jack coming out with a shopping cart full of plunder.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMUAgONIick&w=480&h=390]
1) Triple H. The Game has a theme by Motorhead, who are awesome. Triple H made his iconic entrance match up to the music. I will admit to spitting out water when the pause in the music happens. What can I say, it’s too much fun.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N8tr_QDhDk&w=480&h=390]
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