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The 411 Wrestling Top 5 08.17.11: Week 137 – Top Entrance Themes

August 17, 2011 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling’s Top 5 List. What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions. Most of our topics will be based on recent events in the Wrestling World, looking at those events that make us think of times past.

So, on to this week’s topic…

BEST ENTRANCE MUSIC~!

Wes Kirk
HM: Gangrel: Awesome theme during the Attitude Era
HM: Mr. Perfect: Speaking of perfection, this was one of my all-time favorites!
HM: Roddy Piper: The bagpipes are a beautiful instrument

5. New World Order – The nWo liked to make a big entrance and they came to the ring to a snazzy song that was rumored to have been in a porn movie. Whenever the opening beats hit everybody knew trouble was coming and it would often stop WCW commentators cold when they realized that the black and white were coming out, sometimes to attack them!

4. Stone Cold Steve Austin – Austin’s theme is obviously an epic as it has been used for years, the current version of which has been used since September 1998. Prior to that, though, Austin used what I think was a better version named “Hell Frozen Over” from the WWF Volume 2. It combined a police siren sound during the loop points and the overall feel of the song was darker than the Volume 3 version.

3. The Undertaker – Without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best entrances in wrestling history. There have been many variations of the funeral march used for the Undertaker and every one of them is associated with some striking moments in history, the last of which was used when he returned as The Undertaker from his biker gimmick to battle Kane in 2004. Earlier in his career, he came to the ring to the song that is used often to promote casket matches and/or Undertaker appearances on a show.

2. Ultimate Warrior – Nothing not to love about this song, from the first massive chord you knew exactly who was heading to the ring! When we finally got our hands on this particular tune from Anthology way back in 2002, it was a joy to behold to finally listen to the song that perfectly synced up with the Warrior’s run to the ring, rope shaking, and eventual destruction of his opponent.

1. Shawn Michaels “Sexy Boy” – Did you know there are actually two versions of this? The original was sung by Sherri Martel during Shawn’s singles heel turn and the second was redone by Shawn himself and is the only one ever released. Whether you liked him or not, the cocky lyrics and guitar solos in this theme completely captured the image of the Showstopper in his glory days from the early 1990’s all the way to his final wrestling match in 2010 against The Undertaker at WrestleMania.


Michael Bauer
HM: NJPW in the United States: I’m lumping it together, because they used some awesome classic rock when they came to NYC.
HM: Gangrel: I just remember jamming to the theme when he came out.
HM: Goldberg: Everytime he came out, it just felt epic.

5. Randy Orton: “Voices” – For me, the song is perfect for Orton and I have always been a huge fan of Rev Theory. It is an easy choice to include this, as it was the only WWE theme on my playlist for a long time.

4. CM Punk “Cult of Personality” – That is, until Punk came out to this. I admit, I forgot about him using this in RoH, since I wasn’t a fan when he was using it. Still, it’s just got a great beat and is very catchy.

3. Brock Lesnar – To this day, I still play the beats of Brock’s WWE theme music to get me hyped up. This is my amp song, because it just feels powerful, as Brock was.

2. Undertaker (any version) – No doubt, The Undertaker’s theme is the most memorable of anything ever in the WWE. Not to mention, they have changed it slightly on at least a half a dozen occasions and it still sounds awesome. My favorite is “The Darkest Side” remix from the later 90’s.

1. Bryan Danielson “The Final Countdwon” – Yes, this is an Indy Mark alert. But come on, where else would you find thousands of people singing Europe than RoH? It was fun, it was catchy, and it was also a pretty damn awesome sight to see it in the Hammerstein Ballroom.


Stewart Lange
HM: Stone Cold Steve Austin: Because the glass break was THE iconic sound of the Attitude era.
HM: Dude Love: It was terrible, but in a way that made me laugh whenever I heard it.
HM: Shawn Michaels: My wife made me put this in because he’s her favorite.

5. New Jack “Natural Born Killers” – Was he a good wrestler? No. Did he do much other than jump off high stuff? No. Did you see many crowd pops bigger than when the bullet sounds at the start of ‘Natural Born Killer’? No. It made for many an ECW highlight when New Jack came out, and the arenas sound system was BLASTING out the Ice Cube classic.

4. Edge “From This Day” – I’m not particularly into Alterbridge, but the drums at the start of this entrance make it my favorite from the last few years. Big noise, big lights, shame it’s a remixed version of the song really.

3. CM Punk “Cult Of Personality” – This is a great song by a great band and it suits Punk down to the ground. Sure, the impact is lost on a lot of new fans, but anyone who has followed Punk will probably have marked out like a 10 year old.

2. Hulk Hogan “Real American” – Bear with me…… The thing with this track is that its kind of along the same lines as “Danger Zone” from Top Gun – terrible 80’s anthems that always tend to turn up at 2am in a terrible night club, after a terrible amount to drink. And they work. They get people singing along and jumping around. It’s always the same when it hits at a WWE show, even if it is the Big Show having some fun.

1. D-Generation x – It was the complete package- a cool song, great pyro, a crazy video that flashed on your screen and rumors it was by Rage Against The Machine. It wasn’t of course, but everyone knew someone that was convinced it was. The variation that X-Pac used was kind of cool, but he original was the best.


Michael Weyer
HM: Enter Sandman: Always something to see hundreds of ECW fans singing the lyrics as he’d come out.
HM: Undertaker: The classic was good but the latest version is nice as the bell sounding always creates a pop and the haunting theme fits the character perfectly.
HM: Razor Ramon: The screech of tires and then a nice Carribean feel, sinister but getting to you, showing how the character caught on well.

5. John Cena, My Time Is Now: Yeah, I’m a Cena mark, I admit it but the music is actually fun, a good opening and fans do respond one way or another, which is what an entrance theme is all about.

4. (Tie) Goldberg and the Ultimate Warrior: Two themes for guys who may not have been great shakes in the ring but their music always got fans going. The Warrior’s DVD had a whole chapter on his theme and how people automatically popped huge for it with him charging to the ring and firing up with energy. With Goldberg, it was the drums pounding as he marched to the ring with the fans chanting his name and ready for war. A great example of how the music helps enhance the performer.

3. Randy Savage, Pomp and Circumstance: Whoever gave Savage this tune knew what he was doing, as the pomp perfectly fit Savage and he brought it with his singular style and heat that makes you miss him even more.

2. Ric Flair, Also sprach Zarathustra: Another great mix of classic music with an epic performer, its bold opening perfect for Flair, making him seem automatically better than any man and mixing it with his always great robes and style made him even more the star of his time.

1. Hulk Hogan, Real American: Run him down today all you want but in his prime, NO ONE could get a crowd going like Hogan. When those first guitar riffs of “Real American” started, every arena would just explode into cheers, going totally nuts and that carried to the match itself. It also helped with the ending of Hogan posing for the fans to the music, giving a nice send-off with their great hero, a perfect mix of man and music that made him such a star.


Aaron Frame
HM: Val Venis – Hello Ladies: Perfectly sleezy for him. And it was catchy.
HM: Acolytes – APA: Badass song for a couple of straight badasses.
HM: Ultimate Warrior – Unstable: His music was good to pump you up as he came out. High energy. I loved it.

5. Goldust – Gold-lust – It starts off really mysterious, kind of lavish in a way. Then it just peaks and the ensuing melody is just a mixture of emotions. It’s definitely a theme that added to the awe and wonder when Goldust made his entrance. Of course back in the day, when I heard this I just wanted to see Terri.

4. Taka Michinoku – Yamato Suite Pt.4 – Not the weak sauce version Kaientai had here in the states. This is the real version of it. And it made Taka out to be one bad sumbitch. And he’s had a couple different versions of Yamato Suite Pt. 4, I believe I like what’s called the “K version” mostly because of the first line in it.

3. Edge – Metalingus/CM Punk – This Fire Burns/Evan Bourne – Born To Win – Three songs that are just utterly awesome. They’re done by decent bands as well which is a plus. Well, Edge and Punk’s songs, never looked in to who did Bourne’s. Point is, these themes are three of my current favorites. Or, correction, two are now defunct. So, they’re three of my favorites from the more recent themes. That’s better.

2. Hardcore Holly – How Do You Like Me Now – This was the first theme that I actually chose by sound alone and not who it belonged to when using it for my create a wrestler. It’s hard hitting and just gives me an adrenaline rush anytime I hear it. Of course after I really got in to hearing this song a lot since I played the video game a lot, I started asking people how they liked me then. How do you like me now?

1. Keiji Mutoh – Hold Out V1 – I don’t know what it is about this theme, but ever since I’ve heard it, it’s been the theme for my life. It’s just the right amount of epic and badass that it makes it just feel like you’re listening to the theme of someone unstoppable. And it’s such an awesome theme that I have the guilty pleasure of using it in SmackDown vs. Raw 2011.


Greg DeMarco
HM: The Road Warriors: “Ironman”
HM: AJ Styles: “Get Ready to Fly!”
HM: Samoa Joe: “The Champ Is Here!”

5. Jay & Mark Briscoe – The opening guitar riff for “Gimme Back My Bullets” was basically their shattering glass. Their slow walk around ringside while the song blares was usually the perfect prelude to what’s coming–the calm before the storm.

4. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper – The bagpipes were so fitting, hell, Roddy is named after them! It sounded so different from anything else being presented, and it perfectly set the stage for what was coming…usually total and utter chaos!

3. The Rock – Much like #1, the initial sound of The Rock’s music brought the crowd to their feet. And his many returns were always accentuated by the pop that comes when the crowd hears “Do You Smell What The Rock Is Cooking?”

2. Kurt Angle – This is, of course, the “You Suck” variety. It was instant heat put on a guy who knew what to do with that heat. Plus, I experienced it live on a few occasions, and it’s too damned much fun.

1. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin – The pop elicited by the glass breaking was always deafening. The beat was simple, with no words. But when you heard it you knew that some way, somehow, an ass-kicking was coming tonight.


SHAWN S. LEALOS
HM: Chris Jericho, “Break the Walls Down” – My wife hates it because I play Fozzy in our car.
HM: Randy Savage, “Pomp and Circumstance” – My wife hates it because I try to yell “OOOOH YEAH!” at graduation ceremonies.
HM: Shawn Michaels, “Sexy Boy” – My wife hates it because I sing along to this song every time it plays.

5. Sandman, “Enter Sandman” – I think this is more about the entrance than just the song. I love hard rock and this is one of my favorite Metallica songs, top five at least. When the music starts and Sandman makes his way to the ECW ring while the fans are all singing, it was one of the greatest entrances ever. When WWE brought him in and used a generic version, it ruined his entire entrance.

4. Jim Ross, “Boomer Sooner” – “I’m Sooner born, I’m Sooner Red and when I die, I’ll be Sooner dead.” Boomer Freaking Sooner, baby. Yeah, sorry but that is a homer pick. Sue me.

3. Randy Orton, “Voices” – There is no song that better fits a wrestler than “Voices” and Randy Orton. With his inner demons always threatening to break out and punt someone in the head, the words to that song fit his character to a tea. The song is great to listen to as well.

2. CM Punk, “Cult of Personality” – Yeah, I went nuts when this song started playing when CM Punk returned. For one thing, I knew it was Punk because the lyrics fit him perfectly. Second, I have loved this song since it was first released. Back when I was in college, we had to watch the video for the song as an assignment in class and write down everyone that we recognized while it played. Yeah, I go back a long way with this song and it is awesome.

1. Rob Van Dam, “Walk” – Nothing he had in the WWE and nothing TNA has given him will ever compare to Rob Van Dam coming to the ring to Pantera’s “Walk.” That song is intense, completely awesome and was perfect for Rob Van Dam while he was at the top of his ECW career. I still wish it played when I see him come out to whatever it is that TNA has playing for him now.


Jack Bramma
Since I don’t think this is entirely a fair fight for certain songs, I decide to make two lists: one with themes created just for wrestlers and the other with songs borrowed from movies and music outside of wrestling for their appeal.

Entrance Songs Created for Wrestling

HM: Hulk Hogan – “Real American”: How do you have a list and not include this as at least an honorable mention? This music to this day would get a bigger pop than ¾ of the roster and was even used as this year’s White House Correspondent’s Dinner.
HM: Christian – “At Last” : This was after Christian broke away from Edge on his singles tour. The lyrics perfectly match his character’s psyche at that moment, plus it had a fabulous choral chant at the beginning and the golden rain pyro later given to Randy Orton and now Alberto Del Rio.
HM: Million Dollar Man – “Money Money” : This is an awful, over-the-top monstrosity that was the epitome of everything gaudy and self-aggrandizing that MDM represented. Everything from the laugh to the “Everybody’s got a price” to the chorus are great.

5. Chris Jericho – “Break Down the Walls” – Jericho’s entrance to this music with the original countdown was one of the best moments of the Monday Night Wars. If they had picked a lesser song or one that wasn’t as close to his “wall-breaking,” ceiling smashing, character, the whole entrance would have lost a great deal of its impact.

4. Triple H – “The Game”/Goldberg – “Invasion” (tie) – This is my cheap way of trying to include 6 songs in my top 5 that I thought were too good to get honorable mentions but not good enough for the top 3. Both of these songs are simplistic but get right to the point of pounding base to let you know a badass is on the way. It’s not everybody who can get personal friend Lemmy and Motorhead to break out the ax and pound some pulsating rhythms for their own entrance and can choreograph a water spit into his routine. And Goldberg’s is perhaps the most foreboding music in wrestling history (subjective of course) and is only complete by him standing in the blazes of the pyro and breathing smoke like a fire-breathing dragon.

3. Kane – “Buried” – Oh no, friends, this is not the one by Finger Eleven or the other song he had in-between. This is the ORIGINAL song for Kane and is only complete with the gothic organ that blares you into submission and has the blazing hot pyro as soon as the guitar kicks in with its eerie chords. Kane should be forced to use this for the rest of his career as it’s just so much better than all of his other songs.

2. Mr. Perfect – “Perfect” – I’m guessing at that name but it only makes sense for that to be the title. I’m disappointed not to see this song on more lists. It had that regal majesty to its bombast with the rolling timpani’s and the half step crescendos all through the song. You have to imagine the legendary Curt Hennig throwing a towel over his shoulder and catching it and then flipping his gum into the crowd while throwing a touchdown pass that only he could catch to get the full royalty of this song.

1. Ultimate Warrior – “Unstable” – This is perhaps the only music on the list or that WWE ever created that could rock today just as much as it did when first created. It could be given to any wrestler and it would still get them over instantly (as long as they ran to the ring). Even if the main riff sounds like AC/DC’s “Chase the Ace” and Led Zeppelin’s “Communication Breakdown” and Sammy Hagar’s “Reckless” AND Deep Purple’s “Highway Star,” who cares? A great riff is a great riff no matter how many bands use it. Though the Warrior is a unique combination of gimmick, tassels, rope shaking, war paint, and insane promos, he never gets as over without this song leading him down the isle.

Entrance Songs Appropriated by Wrestling

HM: British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith – “Rule, Britannia!”: Just an all around classic march and one that fit his Anglo roots.
HM: Macho Man – “Pomp and Circumstance”: This is of course the music everyone hears at their graduation, but I’ll always remember it more for the Madness.
HM: Sandman – “Enter Sandman” (Metallica): You haven’t lived until you’ve watched an ambling drunk, hardcore “legend” take 15 minutes to smoke cigarettes and chug some beers and pound it on his head on the way to the ring through the crowd.

5. Chris Hero – “I Need a Hero” – This is a combination of Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” and “Requiem for a Tower” from Requiem for a Dream and just narrowly edges out Sweeney’s introed “Chris is Awesome” for the best Chris Hero theme. It’s unfair that indy wrestlers get to cherry pick the best copywrited music for their entrances but you have to admit Hero has great taste especially with the sweeping scope of the orchestral part.

4. Larry Sweeney – “More, More, More” (Andrea True Connection) – Only Larry Sweeney could take a decadent Disco song and make it one of the best songs for a wrestler to use. This song had a certain personality that while completely antithetical is a nice flip side to Sweeney’s frazzled, maniacal energy. We miss you, Sweeney.

3. Hollywood Hogan – “Voodoo Child” (Jimi Hendrix) – Like Chris Hero, Hogan had impeccable taste for his heel music. This is a classic song whether or not Hollywood ever uses it in his WCW days, but if you’re a wrestling fan, it’s hard not to imagine Hogan playing air guitar on the 10 lbs of gold with the letters “nWo” etched in black spraypaint across the front when hearing this song.

2. Bryan Danielson – “Final Countdown” (Europe) – While Hogan went for the coolest song possible, AmDrag, like Sweeney, decided to revive a tacky artifact from the unfashionable 80s and turn it into one of the must-see experiences in professional wrestling. While ROH has never had the attendance figures of WWE, their fans would unite to sing the hook of this Styx-esque, Queen-like explosion of keyboards like no fans anywhere else in wrestling with unequaled passion.

1. Ric Flair – “Also Sprach Zarathustra” (Richard Strauss) – This song’s greatness is not embodied in Ric Flair by any stretch of the imagination. It’s beautiful classical music and was borrowed by Stanley Kubrick in 2001: A Space Odyssey for the apes’ moment of violent awakening and the reveal of the monolith. But Ric Flair has owned this music in the world of professional wrestling ever since. Even moreso than Mr. Perfect’s theme, this song builds to a perfect coronation at the sheer awe of the spectacle being witnessed, in this case Ric Flair walking to the ring. The greatest of all time deserves no less.


Francisco Ramirez
HM: NWO Wolfpack: C Murder gave the Red and Black one catchy entrance song.

5. Rob Van Dam “Walk” – I’ve heard people say he used to come out to the Kilgore version, I’ve heard RVD used to use to have a cover of the song from another band, I’ve seen him come out to the Pantera version. While “One of a Kind” was good for its time, it was “Walk” that just screamed RVD during the early ECW days.

4. Ultimate Warrior – The guitar riff started, and everyone exploded! As simple as it was, Warriors entrance theme just embodied him during his WWE run.

3. Homicide “The Truth” – Until you have seen Homicides entrance during his run in ROH, then the song won’t truly make sense. Beanie Sigel crafted a damn good song in “The Truth”, but it was the crowd interaction during “The Truth” that truly made Homicide’s entrance stand out. You start off with a Kill Bill sample, followed by the fans slamming the rails to the beat, a site to see indeed.

2. Sandman “Enter Sandman” – Anytime Brock Lesnar used this song in the UFC, I half expected to see the Sandman walk out and cane someone. That’s how effective “Enter Sandman” was. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t just the song, the Sandman made a bigger spectacle out of his entrances than he did most of his matches, not counting the time he dropped his pants in the middle of the ring of course.

1. L.A. ParK “Thriller” – Speaking of using songs effectively, who better than the original La Parka, L.A. ParK! Man when I first would see L.A. ParK come out to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” I thought it was the cheesiest thing I had ever seen, then it grew on me. No one else but L.A. ParK could pull it off though, and the man milks that song for all it’s worth and makes it a freaking sight to see.

YOUR TURN KNOW IT ALLS
List your Top Five for this week’s topic on the comment section using the following format:

5. CHOICE: Explanation
4. CHOICE: Explanation
3. CHOICE: Explanation
2. CHOICE: Explanation
1. CHOICE: Explanation

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Larry Csonka