Welcome everyone to the latest edition of Top Five Fridays! It’s that time of year where professional wrestling gets a lot more publicity from the mainstream media. The Showcase of the Immortals. The Granddaddy of Them All. Wrestlemania.
This year is even more special with it being in New Orleans (sadly, I’m not headed over there). With that in mind, here’s my top five favorite theme songs in professional wrestling! First off, some criteria: I’m going through all the major promotions (WWE, WCW, TNA, ROH, and NJPW). For the most part, they all have their own entrance themes that are produced in house and it’s easier than just picking five songs that I like that conveniently some independent wrestlers use. On with the countdown!
5.Rebel Heart (Johnny Gargano)
I’ll give an honorable mention to Chrome Hearts which was used by D.I.Y. (Gargano and Ciampa) before they broke up in 2017 because of their similarities. It’s the vocals that puts this song on another level for me.
When I picked up WWE 2K18 back in October, I was so glad that the developers were able to include the new theme song in there because it’s one of my favorites.
4. The Rising Sun (Shinsuke Nakamura)
Before I get into why I love this song, let me just say that his entrance on Sunday is going to be absolutely lit. The crowd singing along to the music in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome will definitely bring chills down my spine.
Now it’s time to talk about the actual song. It fits Shinsuke so well with the violin and the Japanese overtones in terms of how it’s composed is amazing. The best part about is how the gaps of silence fits so well with his entrance.
Fun fact: Nakamura’s original theme was rumored Glorious Domination, which is now used by Bobby Roode. My goodness how well that worked out for both parties involved. If this were a top ten, Glorious Domination would have been in there no questions.
3. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW)
Usually a wrestler’s entrance music will have about seven seconds worth of an intro to build them up for when they come out for their match. Katsuyori Shibata’s theme breaks away from that convention and it works extremely well because of that.
The slow build and then things go insane with all the guitars is perfect for one of the hardest hitting wrestlers in the world. Also, seeing the pure emotion from fans when Shibata’s music hit during the G1 Climax Finals was a thing of beauty.
2. I Won’t Do What You Tell Me (Stone Cold Steve Austin)
When you heard that glass shatter, you knew something was about to go down. True story: I was at a Monday Night Raw at the Cajundome back in 2003 and left my seat to grab some popcorn and a drink. I make it about halfway there before the glass shattered and I immediately turned the corner and went back to see what was going to happen. Stone Cold’s music was incredible even when they messed with it a few times in 2001 for one reason or another.
I had a hard time putting this at number two, but I’m more than okay with putting it here after a lot of debate.
1. Wolfpac (WCW)
There’s a reason why the nWo Wolfpac were considered the cool faction and it’s this theme. Thankfully, it’s made the cut on the more recent WWE games and I’ve put it as my entrance music for my created wrestler. It was a banger back in 1998 and it’s still great in 2018. The original nWo theme was great, but this just holds up better.
-Clint@1063RL