411Music Presents...The Music Of Wrestlemania

Posted by Mitch Michaels on 03.16.2007

With over two decades of history under its belt, Wrestlemania has played host to some exciting musical guests, songs and performances. Cyndi Lauper's fight with The Fabulous Moolah, Run-DMC's "Wrestlemania Rap", the DX Band, "America The Beautiful", Motörhead...it's all inside!



On Sunday, April 1st, WWE will present the 23rd annual edition of its most hallowed event: Wrestlemania. As the night progresses, from the opening pyro to the closing highlight montage, one thing will become certain: for better or for worse, you'll know the words to Saliva's "Ladies & Gentlemen" by heart. As Saliva readies to once again have their hard rock immortalized in the halls of sports entertainment history, let's take a look back at the two plus decades of music history that Wrestlemania has brought us.

Wrestlemania & The Rock ‘N' Wrestling Connection

Ever since its early days, long before PPV themes and entrance music, Wrestlemania has made musicians as much a part of the experience as celebrities, Pete Rose and bodyslams. In 1985, as Vince McMahon looked to make his first giant grab at the brass ring of global dominance in the world of professional wrestling, he was in need of a medium to promote his new hip and family-friendly form of the sport. He found what he was looking for by way of an upcoming, youth-friendly television network: MTV. One of the music video channel's biggest stars in the mid-80's was pop queen Cyndi Lauper. McMahon struck up a business deal with Lauper's manager and then boyfriend David Wolff that would allow a cross-promotion of sorts. Lauper began appearing on WWE (then WWF) television, while WWF Superstars like Captain Lou Albano and Hulk Hogan began showing up with Lauper at public appearances and in her music videos.


Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" – Featuring Capt. Lou Albano
When it came time for the inaugural Wrestlemania in March of ‘85, Lauper was an easy score for a big celebrity appearance. After wrapping up a successful storyline with Captain Lou (which indirectly led to the first Wrestlemania main event of Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff), Cyndi had been feuding on WWF TV with ex-WWF Women's Champion The Fabulous Moolah. Lauper had managed wrestler Wendi Richter to a title victory over Moolah in the months prior to Wrestlemania, and Moolah had spent the time since plotting her revenge. At "The War To Settle The Score", an MTV/WWF Special in February, Moolah managed a new wrestler, Lelani Kai, to a controversial title win over Richter. Richter and Lauper got their rematch at the first Wrestlemania, where the duo entered to the tune of Cyndi's hit "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". Richter defeated Kai for the Women's title that night, with Lauper actively neutralizing Moolah at ringside.

The first Wrestlemania also featured another notable musical guest, though his roll was less active. Flashy entertainer and Grammy winning pianist (huh huh) Liberace appeared as well, serving as the guest time keeper for the main event tag team match. Though the flamboyant one didn't get involved physically, the image of him being escorted to the ring by The Rockettes has become iconic in WWE lore.

Wrestlemania 2 would continue in the same vain as its predecessor, with a few musical celebrities playing rolls similar to the ones we saw at the first event. Heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne appeared as a co-manager (along with Capt. Lou) for The British Bulldogs, Davey Boy Smith and The Dynamite Kid, who successfully defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake, managed by Johnny V. Ozzy didn't take as active a roll in the promotion of the event as Cyndi Lauper did, as he wasn't involved in a feud. He was simply there to cheer on his fellow Brits, the Bulldogs.

Another noted music personality involved was jazz/blues singer Cab Calloway who served as a guest judge for the Boxing Match between Mr. T and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper at the Nassau Coliseum near Calloway's hometown of New York City. Cab's boxing judging abilities were never put to the test, however, as Piper was disqualified for bodyslamming T in the 4th Round.

The most memorable celebrity appearance, however, was by R&B legend Ray Charles, who opened the show with a stirring rendition of "America The Beautiful". The song became an annual tradition at the event, but there has yet to be a singer to live up to Charles' version of the song. It's appropriate, since Ray's recording has become nearly synonymous with the tune. He even had a Top 100 hit with it back in 1976.

Wrestlemania III, which would set records for outdoor attendance, continued the tradition of metal and blues. On the managing front, rocker Alice Cooper accompanied the equally creepy and cerebral Jake "The Snake" Roberts to the ring for his match with The Honky Tonk Man. Roberts decided he needed to enlist the help after HTM busted an acoustic guitar over his head on an episode of Jake's "The Snake Pit". Unfortunately, Cooper couldn't rally The Snake to a victory over the dastardly Elvis impersonator, but that didn't keep Jake and Alice from introducing Jake's snake Damien to Honky's manager Jimmy Hart when the match was over. Amazingly, Damien left with his head in tact.

WM III also had the distinction of being kicked off by the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, singing her own version of "America The Beautiful". While this has been well-documented, it may also come as a shock to fans that WM III was the first to feature an "official" theme song: Aretha's "Who's Zoomin' Who?", which predates Saliva by well over a decade. The song was a Top 20 hit for Aretha in 1985. How this bouncy soul track got anybody hyped for grappling is anyone's guess. Have a listen:

"Oh Beautiful…"

For the next few years, musical guests were relegated to show opening duties. Wrestlemania IV saw another R&B legend, Gladys Knight, perform "America The Beautiful", as did a pair of country superstars, Willie Nelson and Reba McEntire, at WM VII and VIII, respectively. For a change-up, Robert Goulet sang "O Canada" at Wrestlemania VI, which emanated from Toronto. Wrestlemania V was notable not only for WWF Rockin' Robin croaking out the worst opener since "Mean" Gene took on the US National Anthem at the first event, but also for the first live non-patriotic performance, as rap legends Run-DMC performed their own "Wrestlemania Rap" for the crowd. Check out some lyrics from this rarest of tracks:

Excerpts from "Wrestlemania Rap"
by Run-DMC

Everybody I wanna hear you say
Wrestlemania
Everybody I wanna hear you say
Wrestlemania

(repeat, repeat)

Ladies and gentleman, we welcome to you Wrestlemania

Everybody say ho
Say ho ho
Say ho ho ho
Now scream

Say Wrestle
Say Mania
Say Wrestle
Say Mania

Ladies and gentleman, Run-DMC

Bust that rhyme homie

Piledrivin'...
Backbreakin', body slam

You're gonna get your head beat

Who's gonna lose, who's gonna win?
Who's gonna be the champion

Surely, it was a proud day in both hip-hop and wrestling history.

As the 90's rolled on and the Hulk Hogan era in the WWF ended, the Fed began to slowly seek out a new identity for itself. Wrestlemania IX, held in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and notable for being largely recognized as the worst of all time, featured no special musical performances or direct musician involvement. In fact, the only celebrity who had any onscreen time was R&B singer Natalie Cole, who was spotted at ringside for the event. That attitude changed for the next year, as stars from the giant-breasted D-lister Rhonda Shear to Burt Fucking Reynolds got involved. WM X also had its share of musical moments. Rock & Roll Hall Of Famer Little Richard kicked off the show with "America The Beautiful", while a pre-acting career, post-New Kids On The Block Donnie Wahlberg served as the guest ring announcer for the WWF Title match between Yokozuna and Lex Luger.

You know, I hate to nitpick on WWE's celebrity choices, but since we've hit near our halfway point, let's look at a snapshot of these singers' careers at the time they guested at "The Granddaddy Of Them All":

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WRESTLEMANIA (THE FIRST TEN YEARS)
MUSICAL CELEBRITY HEAT FACTORS
Cyndi Lauper: Wrestlemania (1985) – Hot off of a huge Top 5 album (She's So Unusual) that generated 4 Top 10 hits (including the #1 "Time After Time") and a few months away from unleashing the #1 hit "Goonies R Good Enough". Celebrity Status: HOT

Liberace: Wrestlemania (1985) – Hadn't released an album in several years and his Vegas act was winding down due to health complications. Only two years away from dying of AIDS. Considered a legend, but come on. Celebrity Status: COLD

Ozzy Osbourne: Wrestlemania 2 (1986) – Had just released the Top 10 album The Ultimate Sin, the anticipated follow-up to Bark At The Moon. Was currently enjoying a hit with "Shot In The Dark". Celebrity Status: HOT

Ray Charles: Wrestlemania 2 (1986) – Definitely in a slump, he had yet to record the Diet Pepsi commercial. Was having a SLIGHT career resurgence thanks to his "(The Night Time Is) The Right Time" being featured on a famous episode of "The Cosby Show" and to some duets with country stars like Hanks Williams, Jr. ("Two Old Cats Like Us"). A legend, but he had yet to take his place in America's mind as such. Celebrity Status: ROOM TEMPERATURE

Cab Calloway: Wrestlemania 2 (1986) – A jazz and scat legend who had more or less retired decades earlier. A known hometown guy, but New York has plenty of those. Celebrity Status: COLD

Aretha Franklin: Wrestlemania III (1987) – A soul/R&B legend, she was enjoying a career resurgence at the time. Her previous album, Who's Zoomin' Who? (1985), had produced multiple Top 40 hits in the preceding months, and she was about to hit #1 with her George Michael duet "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)". Celebrity Status: HOT

Alice Cooper: Wrestlemania III (1987) – This was during Cooper's slow career resurgence in the late-80's, but before he really returned to success with Thrash in 1989. His album out at the time, Constrictor, was considered a commercial flop, though it did produce some well known tracks in "Teenage Frankenstein" and the Friday The 13th tie-in, "He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask)". Celebrity Status: ROOM TEMPERATURE

Gladys Knight: Wrestlemania IV (1988) – A legend in the midst of a very successful reunion tour with The Pips, she had been enjoying a slight career resurgence in the mid-80's, failed sitcom "Charlie & Co." not included. Celebrity Status: WARM

Run-DMC: Wrestlemania V (1989) – Had recently released Tougher Than Leather, a critically praised though commercially disappointing follow-up to Raising Hell. Still, it managed to go Top 10 and sell over a million copies at the end of 1988. At the time, the rap world was beginning to lean towards more political fair (a la Public Enemy), meaning Run-DMC were about to be left in the lurch. Oh, and let's not forget about that movie, which also bombed. Celebrity Status: WARM

Robert Goulet: Wrestlemania VI (1990) – Decades removed from his biggest hits and even a couple years past his "hey, remember me?" cameos in Beetlejuice and Scrooged. Celebrity Status: COLD

Willie Nelson: Wrestlemania VII (1991) – Though he was a country superstar in the 70's, Willie's biggest claim to fame in 1991 was having just been hit with a monster bill by the IRS. Still, any publicity is good publicity, right? Celebrity Status: WARM

Reba McEntire: Wrestlemania VIII (1992) – Reba McEntire rose to fame in country music in the late 80's, but the 90's was a huge time for her too. In 1992, McEntire had just released her Top 20 album, For My Broken Heart, which yielded four Top 10 country hits. Country music was also blazing at the time, as Garth Brooks had just released Ropin' The Wind and brought the genre to the forefront. Celebrity Status: HOT

Little Richard: Wrestlemania X (1994) – Though he hadn't had a hit in years, the early 90's was the era when Little Richard solidified his image as a legend, appearing in several media appearances, as well as being granted an Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1993 Grammys and a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Rhythm & Blues Foundation in 1994. Celebrity Status: WARM

Donnie Wahlberg: Wrestlemania X (1994) – Donnie Wahlberg was one fifth of the most popular band in the world. In 1990. By 1994, people were more than done with New Kids On The Block, who were at the time trying to kick start their career by shortening their name to NKOTB and putting out a little grittier sounding music. By the end of the year, NKOTB was no more and Donnie was beginning on a journey that would lead him to a successful acting career. Still, in March of '94, you could feel the frost. Celebrity Status: COLD

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Well, it's actually not as bad as I thought, as over half of the musical guests were running above room temperature on celebrity status. Still, when you promote people like a post-New Kids Donnie Wahlberg and a mid-80's Alice Cooper as huge celebrities, you just look silly.

The Quiet Years

Wrestlemania XI would not only feature the most ludicrous main event in the show's history (Bam Bam Bigelow vs. retired NFL star Lawrence Taylor), it would also feature the final musical celebrity involvement for the next four years. At ‘Mania XI, female rap trio Salt-N-Pepa became the first act to perform live entrance music at a Wrestlemania, performing their hit "Whatta Man" for L.T.'s arrival to the main event. The band was definitely hot at the time, as their album Very Necessary had produced hits like "Man", "Shoop" and "None Of Your Business" in the months prior. In fact, just weeks before the show, Salt-N-Pepa became the first females to ever win a rap Grammy.

Wrestlemania XIV had no real celebrity involvement, but it did feature a couple of live performances by The DX Band. The DX Band was fronted by NY rock singer/songwriter/guitarist Chris Warren, who had come under the tutelage of WWF in-house music guru Jim Johnston. During his career with the Fed, Warren performed on several wrestler theme songs, including "My Time" (Triple H), "Kings" (Degeneration X) and, most notably, "Break It Down" (DX), which is still being used today. At WM XIV, Warren and the band performed a highly unpopular version of "America The Beautiful", as well as "Break It Down" during DX leader Shawn Michaels' entrance into the main event. Warren and the gang can also be seen briefly during Michaels' match with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, scurrying away as Austin takes the fight to their stage.

The celebrities returned for Wrestlemania XV, which was kicked off by Boyz II Men putting their signature harmonies on "America The Beautiful". At the time BIIM was in the midst of several problems, including nagging health issues, declining record sales and a less-than-cordial record label change. You could consider 1999 as the group's last hoorah, as they were just months away from releasing their final album. The ringside area at WM XV also had its share of musical guests. Soul legend Isaac Hayes (enjoying newfound fame at the time as the voice of Chef on "South Park") and rapper Big Pun (a few months removed from his first big hit "Still Not A Player") were in attendance, and both performed the night before at a special Wrestlemania Rage party put on by the WWF.

Rap made its presence known the next year too, as Ice-T performed entrance music for the pimped out duo of The Godfather and D'Lo Brown before their match with the Big Boss Man and Bull Buchanan. T had just released his 7th Deadly Sin album, which would be his last for over seven years, and was still a few months from beginning his stay on "Law & Order: SVU".

Wrestlemania Today: The Official Theme Years

In 2001, Wrestlemania began to take shape into the form, musically, that is still being used today. Starting with Wrestlemania X-Seven, each show has had a (usually hard rock) theme song that's included during the event's promotion and played heavily during the show itself. X-Seven's theme was Limp Bizkit's "My Way", a hard driving rap/rock tune that was enjoying a Top 5 run on the rock charts. Two years later, at Wrestlemania XIX, Limp Bizkit once again provided the official theme song with their just released single "Crack Addict". The band performed the song live on the show, and also performed their hit "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)" during The Undertaker's entrance for his match against The Big Show and A-Train. ‘Taker had been using the song as his theme since 2000.

2001 began the long association of metal legends Motörhead and WWF superstar Triple H. At the end of 2000, HHH introduced his brand new theme music, "The Game", which was recorded specifically for him by Lemmy Kilmister and his band. At WM X-Seven, Motörhead performed "The Game" live as Triple H made his entrance for a match with The Undertaker. The band repeated those duties at Wrestlemania 21, performing "The Game" during Triple H's entrance for his World Heavyweight Title match against Batista.

Wrestlemania X8 featured more live performances than any year before. The official theme song was "Tear Away" by Drowning Pool, which was performed live. The Dallas-based rockers had hit the national scene hard the year before with the mainstream rock anthem "Bodies", which is currently used as the theme for the WWE show "ECW On Sci-Fi". The group also performed their version of "The Game" during Triple H's entrance into his main event Undisputed Title match with champion Chris Jericho. Another WWE rock staple, Saliva, performed their song "Superstar" (a secondary theme for WM X8) live on the show, as well as the song "Turn The Tables" for the Dudley Boyz entrance.


Drowning Pool performs "The Game"
After a few years of WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia opening with "America The Beautiful", Wrestlemania XIX marked the return of the celebrity performance. That year, R&B singer Ashanti took her turn in the squared circle. The diva was a great score, as she was hot off the heels of a triple platinum debut album in 2002 and a win as FHM's Sexiest Woman in Music. The following year, at Wrestlemania XX, WWE went a more unconventional route by having the opening song sung by the Harlem Boy's Choir.

WM XX also marked the return of Drowning Pool, as their song "Step Up", a Top 10 Mainstream Rock hit, was used as the official theme song. Hard rockers Godsmack also provided a secondary theme with their track "Touché", another Top 10 Mainstream Rock hit from their acoustic album The Other Side.

Wrestlemania 21, held in L.A. and known as the year that Wrestlmania went Hollywood, featured an array of non-participating celebrities in attendance, including longtime WWE supporter Billy Gibbons (from ZZ Top), hip-hop outfit The Black Eyed Peas, alt rocker Billy Corgan (ex-Smashing Pumpkins), Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis and rapper Ice Cube. WM 21 also featured the theme song "Bigtime" by The Soundtrack Of Our Lives. T.S.O.O.L., a hit Swedish rock band, had just broken in the United States a couple years prior with the album Behind The Music. "Bigtime" was the first single from their follow-up album, Origins, Vol. 1. Unfortunately, the cross-promotion did little to help the song become a hit, as Origins only scraped the lower region of the Billboard 200. WM 21's secondary theme was "Beyond Those Eyes", a Top 30 hit from rockers 3 Doors Down that was included on their #1 album Seventeen Days.

Last year's Wrestlemania 22 featured another R&B performance of "America The Beautiful", this time by ex-Destiny's Child singer Michelle Williams. It also featured a supercharged performance by rap/rockers P.O.D. on the song "Booyaka 619", which they played during Rey Mysterio's entrance for his WWE Title Triple Threat match with champion Kurt Angle and Randy Orton. WM 22 had several theme songs, but the main one was the oddly chosen "Big Time" by Peter Gabriel. The 80's new wave hit (at the time just re-released on a Gabriel hits compilation) was an odd choice to play over wrestling highlights, though the song was catchy. Secondary themes included rockers "I Dare You" by Shinedown, "Save Me Sorrow" by punk act Bullets & Octane and "Baby Hates Me" by Canadian indie rockers Danko Jones.

It's That Time Of Year Again

As April 1st nears, Wrestlemania fever has once again taken hold of WWE fans. Saliva has returned to official theme song duties with their song "Ladies & Gentlemen", the first single from their new album Blood Stained Love Story. The track is currently climbing up the Modern Rock charts. The song is a big, overblown theatrical metal rocker, perhaps what critics would call self-indulgent, but it's perfect for Wrestlemania's kick-ass atmosphere, and ten times better than the tepid official songs that WWE has experimented with over the past three years. It's a good sign.

So now just sit back, throw your devil horns, watch Hogan slam Andre for the millionth time, order a pizza and wonder just how much it would hurt to powerbomb your brother through that glass coffee table. Wrestlemania has returned to the rock.