We are less than 48 hours away from The Showcase Of The Immortals, Wrestlemania 29 will be hitting New York and thousands of men all over the UK will be staying up until 4am to catch the whole thing. So we thought we'd look at one of our favourite aspects of professional wrestling, entrance themes!

What other pieces of music elicit such excitement in their opening bars? Many. Tons of songs get crowds whipped into a frenzy straight away. BUT, the special thing about the wrestling theme is that most people, even big fans, don't have a clue what happens after the first 20 seconds. What a weird phenomenon. I was going to try and give an inciteful paragraph or two about how/why this is important and worth looking at. But the truth is that I wanted to sit here on company time and watch wrestling videos.

Feel free to tell us your favourite wrestling theme at the bottom.

Yes, most people grew out of it but now is not the time for bores. We know it's scripted, so was the latest Bond film and we all had fun watching that. Let's dive in and check out some of the greatest sounds to have introduced the Athletes/Entertainers of the professional wrestling world.

The list is in no particular order, except for the winner:

The Legion Of Doom

We're starting with one of the most iconic tag-teams of all time. Over three decades they won just about every tag-title worth having and are still a top-choice for anyone wishing to don fancy dress. Road Warrior Animal's son is a Linebacker in the NFL, and there's this cool picture of them both donning each other's gear. Their theme echoed their stomping, dominant style and was the perfect badass sound-track to them riding Harley's out to the ring at Wembley Stadium in 1992. Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwhat a rush!

Hulk Hogan

Here's how nearly every Hogan match for 30 years has ended. Hogan's down, his opponent goes for the pin... ONLY A TWO! Hogan gets up shaking his head, his opponent strikes him. Hogan shakes his head again, standing. His opponent strikes him again, Hogan pumps his fists. He's Hulking up! Opponent strikes him again, Hogan points. YOU! Opponent strikes aga... BLOCKED. Hogan strikes three times, throws his opponent against the ropes and nails him with the Big Boot. Opponent is down, Hogan hits the running Leg Drop. 1, 2, 3... DUN DUN DUN DUN D-D-D-DAHHHH

Mr. Anderson

Also known as Mr. Kennedy when in the WWE, he still keeps his gimmick of a microphone coming down for him to introduce himself with in TNA. But it wouldn't be half as effecive if it wasn't sandwiched by a ramping guitar and a fist-pump beat.

Big Daddy

Big Daddy was one of the most famous men in the UK for a while. This was when people genuinely believed it was all real and old women would attack the bad guys, people got stabbed! The sad truth is that it's aged very badly, but there's an innocence of the era that is summised by the ultimate good guy coming out to the ring with a spangly hat singing The Seekers - We Shall Not Be Moved.

Shawn Michaels

The Heart Break Kid was one of the most exciting superstars of the last 20 years. He could have a good match with just about anybody and he was equally entertaining out of the ring a lot of the time too. When he was younger he was widely reported as having a big ego problem, but can you blame the guy? I've just listened to his entrance music twice and I suddenly believe that I am the best looking thing in history. He came out to this every night, that's got to warp your perception of yourself to a nauseating level.

Bully Ray

Bully Ray did the difficult thing of coming out of one of the most successful tag-teams in history and forging a genuine solo career with an altered character. With that comes new music, it matches his street fighting persona from Hell's Kitchen. Chain in hand, alone, and ready to fight anything. Not that we condone bullying, but if you're going to do it then this is how you do it right.

Rikishi Phatu

Famous for dancing with Too Cool and rubbing his derriere into the face of opponents, but a lot of people don't remember the music for when he was a bad man. In case you didn't realise that he's bad, the music lets you know that he's a bad man. A really bad man. A bad man who likes bad things, because he's bad. If he was a sheep, he'd be baaaaaaaaaaaa-d.

Triple H

He is The King Of Kings, The Cerebral Assasin, The Game. Triple H has had three different themes performed by Motörhead. End of.

WWE Raw

Okay, this isn't a wrestler. But technically the title says "Wrestling Theme Tunes" and this is a theme tune that was used for a while in wrestling. Admitting to liking Nickelback is about as socially acceptable as openly declaring a physical attraction to close family members, but I'm going to stick my neck out here. It's a free-wheeling salute to wild debauchery, and as long as you don't think about Chad Kroeger's naked body then you should be able to enjoy it. Hearing the opening riff let you know that WRESTLING was about to happen and as a result it always got me excited.

Shane McMahon

A flashy, arrogant tune for a jumped-up rich kid was always going to be on the cards. But this tune gave the crowd a new level of anticipation once Shane McMahon gained a reputation for being more than just the owner's son. With no financial worries, Shane-o Mac was able to take unbelievable risks with his body that the full-time wrestler's couldn't afford to. As a result, we knew that when the younger McMahon's tune played we could be about to see something very special.

James Storm

The Cowboy James Storm strides to the ring accompanied by a Country-Rock number entitled 'Longnecks and Rednecks'. Perfect. It opens with the stanza:



"I'm a creek swimmin',

moonshine sippin'

deer skinnin'

beer drinkin'

JOHNNY CASH LISTENINNNNNNNNNNNN'"

It's all that a man could dream of for a Southern gentleman.

Daniel Bryan

The American Dragon Daniel Bryan started off using a regular version Wagner's 'Ride Of The Valkyries', but once he became a more bona-fide superstar his theme tune got the full metal treatment.

John Cena

Those horns!

Robbie E

I loved Robbie E, he had so many well observed aspects that a lot of people took for granted. Yet they made such a well-rounded character despite him being a clear Jersey Shore caricature The guestlist, the matching jumpers with Robbie T and his brain-dead pumping club music.

Stone Cold Steve Austin

Want to see a man go from 0 to screaming teenage girl in 0.4 seconds? Play this, then watch as the glass-shatter makes nearly every 23-28 year-old man sit-up and sharply turn his head in joyful surprise.

Mick Foley

Mick Foley had an interesting duality as a bumbling joyful figure and a hardcore legend. On one hand he created one of the most goofy characters in entertainment. However, he was also famous for brutal matches, losing an ear and on one occasion taking two of the most savage falls in the business BEFORE competing in an unforgiving Hell In A Cell match with The Undertaker. How do you combine these polar opposite traits? Take a simple, fun guitar opening... and add a car crash.

The Undertaker

Lights out... GONG!

As well as an ethereal funeral dirge, The Undertaker has also had theme tunes from Kid Rock, Johnny Cash and Limp Bizkit, but we're going to stick with his better known one.

The Rock

Everything we said about Stone Cold could be applied here as well. If you ever want to get 20,000 people to stand up very very quickly, few sounds in history have been more effective than IF YA SMELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL...

The New Age Outlaws

This wasn't just cool because it got whole arenas singing and responding. It was also special as it could change every single week as Road Dogg performed it himself every night on the way to the ring with Billy Gunn.

Billy Gunn

Speaking of the New Age Outlaws, I feel that The Bad Ass Billy Gunn's solo theme tune is worth a slot too. It sparked a weirdly popular meme on the Wrestling Memes page that seemed to come outta nowhere. On top of this, it's a song about a dude who really really loves bums.

Dolph Ziggler

Speaking of Billy Gunn, there's one other wrestler whose theme has inspired their own wrestling meme. That would be Billy Gunn's clone, The Show-Off Dolph Ziggler. He holds the current Money In The Bank briefcase, which means he can challenge for the World Championship at any time he chooses. But he's had it for ages, and so whenever a big award is given (such as the new Pope, a Brit Award or the Nobel Prize) it's fun to imagine Dolph's music playing as he runs down the ring with his briefcase, ready to steal the prize immediately after the recipient has won it. *Sigh* I'm explaining this in the vain hope that someone who doesn't already know loads about wrestling is still reading this. Deep in my heart I know that nobody who doesn't watch wrestling has made it this far. I feel like the saddest man in the world, if only somebody could take that title away from me...

CM Punk

In the last few years millions of adults have got back into wrestling in some way after their interest had faded as they grew up. This can largely be attributed to one man, CM Punk. His matches are often the best on the card, his recent WWE title reign was the longest for over 25 years and he's one of the most intense superstars to ever pick up a microphone. On top of that, his entrance theme is Living Colour - Cult of Personality. That's exceptionally cool, on top of that they'll also be performing live when he enters the ring at this year's Wrestlemania. I am happy once again.

This article was ultimately pointless, there was only ever going to be one winner...

Steven Regal

Many now know him as William Regal, a classy gentleman who introduced himself by reciting Shakespeare. But here's a gimmick that he used before then that the world must never forget.

Any that you think we missed? Feel free to make suggestions below.

Andy is a Supajam writer who has been a small-fry at numerous Commerical, BBC and Student radio stations over the last 6 years. He is also a music promoter in the South-East of the UK. He has a website where he interviews musicians with only one question, and he is currently typing in third-person. You can tweet abuse at him if you fancy letting off some steam.