Times the WWE Went Out-of-House for its Superstar Themes

The WWE has been well-known over the years for bringing in outside celebrities to bolster the brand and get millions of clicks online. In 1985, they turned to Oprah Winfrey doing a stint at the commentary table, and at Royal Rumble 2022, Johnny Knoxville entered the ring – only to get booted by Sami Zayn. For the most part, however, the WWE does things in-house to have complete control over the brand, product, showings, and superstars.

It’s a proven formula that has worked for decades, making the WWE a distinct sports entertainment entity. It’s why HBO Sports wanted in on producing a dedicated documentary to the legendary André the Giant, and why the company can reap the cash from every bit of merchandise sold without paying much in royalties. On odd occasion, however, even the iconic themes of superstars have come from outside sources.

Keeping the product in-house

Creating a superstar in the WWE requires writers, a capable athletic actor, a costume designer, and someone to create the theme. All of these factors need to come together to craft a distinct character who will resonate with the audience. For decades, Jim Johnston was responsible for creating the iconic themes of the most recognizable pro wrestlers. He has confessed to the process sometimes being a nightmare when the superstars tried to get too involved, but he was clearly still able to craft themes that worked.

WWE entrance themes are a huge part of the product, with Shinsuke Nakamura’s The Rising Sun and AJ Styles’ Phenomenal arguably being the best. Beyond the squared circle, the WWE also prefers to keep the product within its own range, as can be seen with the newly released official online casino wrestling game, WWE: Clash of the Wilds. It stars John Cena, Charlotte Flair, Roman Reigns, and Bianca Belair, with clips from the show and celebration clips. The score, however, is an original rock-like beat that amps up when the wins come in.

Increasingly, the WWE has been pushing its in-house themes as their own entities for fans to enjoy, especially with the musical production duo CFO$ being behind many of the more recent entrance themes. On the official WWEMusic YouTube channel, there are entrance themes for every wrestler going, which has earned it 1.37 million subscribers. However, that pales in comparison to the views on the entrance theme videos for Shinsuke Nakamura (54 million), Randy Orton (32 million), and Bobby Roode (22 million).

Bringing in the bands

WrestleMania and several of the other PPV events dotted around the year tend to see the WWE paying up for live artists. The likes of Machine Gun Kelly, Motörhead, and Aretha Franklin have all performed before pro wrestling crowds. On the odd occasion that superstars do team up with established music acts to create their theme or just directly use a track for their entrances, the artists can also benefit. It was found that CM Punk using “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour boosted annual sales of the track six-fold, from around 20,000 to 125,000 in 2011.

Perhaps the most frequent and impressive collaboration between WWE superstars and outside artists comes in the form of Triple H and Motörhead. The legendary rock band, with a statue dedicated to its frontman, Lemmy, lent its talent and its performances to many different entrance tracks for Triple H and his associated acts. “Line in the Sand” acted as the theme for the villainous stable Evolution – which also featured Randy Orton, Ric Flair, and Batista. As for Triple H himself, he’d walk out to “King of Kings” and “The Game”.

One of the newest superstars on the WWE scene, having joined in 2018, brought her favorite entrance theme from her mixed martial arts days to the company. Since her days as the mightiest of women in the UFC, Ronda Rousey has been walking out to “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett. At WrestleMania 35, Jett was even booked in to perform the song live for Rousey’s entrance.

Perhaps with some competition from The Undertaker, the king of the entrance theme has to be Stone Cold Steve Austin. Above all else, the sound of shattering glass combined with his incredibly popular character always got the crowd on its feet. Originally put forward by in-house composer Johnston, the band Disturbed created a full theme track for Stone Cold with “Glass Shatters”.
The WWE has done a great job in-house of crafting perfect themes for superstars, but when outside artists are brought in, they make for an unforgettable experience for the audience.