Our 20 Favorite Pro Wrestling Entrance Themes – Part 1 Kevin Sullivan

In 1941, George Wagner quite possibly became the most influential professional wrestler in history. It was that year that Wagner put on a robe, dyed his hair blonde got himself a valet and changed his name to “Gorgeous George”, thus creating the concept of a persona in pro wrestling. He was also the first wrestler to use entrance music, coming to the ring for matches while “Pomp and Circumstance” played over the P.A. system – a song associated with both graduation ceremonies and “Macho Man” Randy Savage (which is also why he is, respectfully absent from this list). The concept of pro wrestling as theater as opposed to a legitimate competition had its first seeds planted into the public consciousness.

Since then, rarely has a wrestler – or, hell, just about any athlete – been introduced without music of some sort. Pro boxers and MMA fighters have their own entrance music. Professional baseball players usually have a song playing as they approach the plate (usually a member of the home team). It was this brilliant pro wrestler in the 40s that started it all.

So, in honor of this legend (who would have turned 98 this upcoming March), and because it gives us a chance to write about wrestling some more, we present our twenty favorite pro wrestling entrance themes in two parts. We’ve stuck with original music – either written in-house by the wrestling company or by a popular band specifically for that wrestler. There are three exceptions to this rule – two of which you’ll see here and one you’ll see tomorrow.

So, here we go, in no particular order, the first ten:

New World Order – “Rockhouse” – Frank Shelly – WCW/WWF/WWE –

The theme music for the New World Order, a tune Kevin Nash once compared to a porn theme, is one of the most recognizable tunes in wrestling history.

DeGeneration X – “Break It Down” – The Chris Warren Band (aka the DX Band) WWE –

Not only is it the theme music of the group that changed the direction of wrestling in the late 90s, it’s also one of the catchiest. You know this song pops in your head whenever anyone utters the phrase “break it down” for any reason.

Hulk Hogan – “Real American” – Rick Derringer – WWF/WWE

Derringer, along with composing “Rock and Rool Hootchie Coo” (yes, that’s a real song), composed a number of songs for the WWF in the 1980s. His theme for Demolition is particularly memorable, but it’s the song he wrote for Hulk Hogan that is most remembered today.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts – “Snake” – Jim Johnston – WWF/WWE

Sinister and mysterious, like the man himself, Jake’s theme also sounded like something out of a John Carpenter movie.

Edge – “Metallingus” – Alter Bridge – WWE

One of those few exceptions we mentioned above, while this Alter Bridge tune wasn’t written for Edge specifically, it’s not as if anyone was going “hey, it’s that Alter Bridge song!” when he started using it. Matt Striker called this theme “exhilarating” and it’s kind of hard to argue.

Goldberg – “Invasion” – Christian Poulet and Jean-Yves Rigo – WCW/WWE

Goldberg was billed as an unbeatable monster and his theme music reflected that. Sure, it sounded like something out of a SNES game but, you have to admit, if it was, it would probably have been one awesome SNES game.

Triple H – “King of Kings” – Motörhead – WWE

Triple H is a well known Motorhead fan. So much so, in fact, that he’s had them write not one but three different theme songs for him (two for him and one for his group Evolution). They’re all pretty awesome, but his “King of Kings” theme from his match with John Cena at Wrestlemania 22 is probably our favorite.

Ric Flair – “Also sprach Zarathustra” – Richard Strauss – WCW/WWF/WWE/TNA

Much like you can’t hear “Pomp and Circumstance” without thinking of Randy Savage, it’s hard to not imagine “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair when hearing this piece made famous from 2001: A Space Oddessy. This is the second exception we we’re talking about and we think you’ll agree, it’s appropriate.

“The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase – “It’s All About The Money” – Jimmy Hart & J.J. McGuire – WWF

A classic bad guy deserves a classic theme song, and Ted DiBiase was one of the best bad guys of all time.

The Ultimate Warrior – “Unstable” – Jim Johnston – WWF

“Unstable” is a pretty good word to describe Warrior these days. But anyone who remembers the Ultimate Warrior in his heydey remembers how excited they got when they heard this music blasting through an arena.

That’s the first ten. We’ve got ten more to go. Tune in tomorrow.