Top Ten Wrestling Theme Songs

By Brent Chittenden

As I mentioned last week, I am a big wrestling fan and one of the things that combines my love of wrestling with my love of music is theme music. I love a good wrestling theme song and in my mind one of the unsung heroes of pro wrestling is a guy named Jim Johnston. Jim has been composing entrance theme for the WWE since 1985 as well as scores to their films and various dvd projects. If you look at how much music this guy has created over the years, it’s absolutely astonishing.

When trying to put together this list, I knew I couldn’t do it alone, to that end I contacted the Mega Powers of Pro Wrestling news and commentary, John Pollock and Wai Ting from The Fight Network’s Review A Raw, Review A Wai, Review An Impact. These guys talk about wrestling three days a week as well as television segments. Hell, right now the guys are in New Jersey covering Wrestlemania and all of the festivities around it. These guys know wrestling and were kind enough to send me their lists which I combined with my own in a very scientific method that involves lists and hats in order to bring you The Top Ten Wrestling Themes Of All Time!

10) Triple H – The Game

Brent – I’m not a Triple H fan (I think he’s a great talent, just not some one I ever root for) but the fact that he has Motorhead doing his theme song is brilliant. What says “I’m going to kick Your ass” more than Motorhead?

9) Bret Hart’s Theme

Brent – I rather like this theme and when I create myself as a wrestler in video games, I tend to use this…. what?

John –  I will defer back to his original music that he used with Jim Neidhart where it was simply a looped electric guitar riff rather than the more popular version with the blaring alarm at the start. When I first got into wrestling this was a simple theme but loved it at the time and is more a pick because of nostalgia than anything.

8) Ted DiBiase – It’s All About The Money

Wai – I’d rank this up there with classics by Pink Floyd, ABBA and the O’Jays as one of the great songs about money. I play this in my head every time I make a withdrawal from the ATM.

7) Legion of Doom – What A Rush

Brent – While I still like the fact that they came out to Sabbath’s Iron Man when they were in the NWA, the WWF theme is a bit of awesome. driving guitars that just scream domination over your opponent.

6) The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers – All American Boys

John – This is hands down my favorite theme of all-time with a catchy tune, excellent lyrics and by watching this entrance once you knew exactly who these characters were in that Jacques and Raymond were these cocky Frenchmen from Quebec that insisted they were Americans and it was excellent. I could listen to this tune all day long.

Brent – I’m a sucker for the theme songs that are supposedly by the actual wrestlers. I like the fact that it chronicles their journey to being Americans with a catchy 80’s beat.

5) The Brood

John – Still to this day one of the best entrances the WWE conceived and presented Gangrel, Edge and Christian as a cool new act in the company with the riser, the flames, the chalice full of blood and this tune you would hear in some brothel or rave.

Brent – Have to agree with John on every point here. If Blade was a pro wrestler, this would have been his theme music.

4) Honky Tonk Man

John – I always score points when the talent in question is utilized in their own theme song and this tune typified the Honky Tonk Man character. He was such a great heel and got under people’s skin their song and just owned this character in such a way that people bought the character no matter how outlandish it was.

3) Hulk Hogan – Real American

Brent – If any theme song is iconic, it’s this one. I think my grandmother could tell you who’s theme this is and I don’t think she’s watched in years (ever since the Bushwhackers left the fed). On a side note, how can you not love the video that goes with it?

Wai – My best memory of this song is its video’s appearance on Beavis and Butt-Head. “He’s a real American. Aheh heh heh.”

2) Shawn Michaels – Sexy Boy

Wai – Growing up in a traditional and prudish Chinese household, you don’t hear the word “sex” batted around too often. This song would come on and I’d always turn the volume down because I would get nervous about my parents listening in another room. Then the internet happened and this song became the least of my concerns of things to hide.

John – I always loved the version with Sherri doing the vocals for the theme and a perfect example of packing a performer to eliminate any memories of The Rocker Shawn Michaels into a new heel and the theme music added a lot to the overall presentation. It’s a testament to the character that he was able to use this theme song his whole career despite lyrics that screamed “hate this man” if you were a fan. 

Brent – It’s hard to argue with a theme that has changed very little since it was first debuted but yet still is used to great effect. I should also mention that this came up when I posted it to facebook by a few of our readers.

1) Jushin Liger  – Ikari no Jushin

Wai – When you look as ridiculous as Liger, you better have good song to back that up. Originally used as the theme for the children’s anime that inspired the pro wrestler, this somehow works even better in a pro wrestling context. A song like this is the difference between a legendary 30-year run and Max Moon

Brent – This is a case of where the theme totally fits the wrestler. It sounds like the theme song from a Japanese cartoon because the wrestler looks like he’s from a Japanese cartoon.

And that’s all she wrote. I would like to thank John and Wai for helping contribute to this list. In fact these guys did a lot more then you’ve seen here (I’ll post the entirety of both their lists on my facebook page later today). If you like pro wrestling, be sure to check out their podcasts (I’m especially fond of the Wednesday Review A Wai show), they’ll be trying to do updates while in New Jersey.

As always, the last word is yours dear reader. Which themes should have been on this list? What am I missing out on? Please list them in the comments below!