Music in professional wrestling serves a variety of purposes. The most common uses of

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

is that of the entrance theme, a song or piece of instrumental music which plays as a performer approaches the ring. After a match, the entrance theme of the victor will normally be played as they exit the ring. Entrance themes are used to alert the audience to the immediate arrival of a wrestler, and to increase anticipation.

Usage as part of a gimmick

Entrance themes are often tailored to the gimmick of the wrestler they are written or selected for. For example,

Hulk Hogan Terry Eugene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 19 ...

's most famous entrance theme in the

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

Rick Derringer Rick Derringer (born Richard Dean Zehringer; August 5, 1947) is an American guitarist, vocalist, producer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the 1960s as founding member of his band, the McCoys. Their debut single, "Hang on Sloopy", was ...

's "Real American", containing lyrics pertaining to Hogan's patriotism ("I am a real American; fight for the rights of every man..."), while

The Undertaker Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by the ring name The Undertaker, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Calaway spent the vast majority ...

has often used entrance themes which resemble a funeral march, including the ringing of an eerie

funeral toll A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

and a quote of

Piano Sonata No. 2 (Chopin) The Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 35, is a piano sonata in four movements by Polish composer Frédéric Chopin. Chopin completed the work while living in George Sand's manor in Nohant, some south of Paris, a year before it w ...

. In practice, modern day entrance themes are normally

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, or

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhythm ...

(especially for women), as these genres of music are popular with the professional wrestling key demographics. Some entrance themes are accompanied by the wrestler's recorded voice saying their signature phrase. Examples of this include Dwyane Johnson's recorded voice saying, "If you smell what the Rock is cookin'!" before his music starts,

Booker T Booker T or Booker T. may refer to * Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), African American political leader at the turn of the 20th century ** List of things named after Booker T. Washington, some nicknamed "Booker T." * Booker T. Jones (born 1944) ...

saying "Don't hate the player. Hate the game" (WCW) and "Can you dig it, sucka?" (WWE) followed by his entrance theme,

Zack Ryder Matthew Brett Cardona (born May 14, 1985) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Impact Wrestling and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Zack Ryd ...

’s recorded voice saying “Woo, woo, woo. You know it.” before his music starts, and

Ric Flair Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler. Regarded by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair has had a career spanni ...

's signature exclamation of "Wooooooo!" prior to his entrance theme.

Original music

Due to licensing costs, entrance themes are often composed by the

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...

for which the wrestlers perform in order to avoid having to pay royalties. A promotion might also purchase music from production libraries, which is considered to be cheaper than the royalties of commercial music, or use

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

music, which is available for no fee. Due to less restrictive copyright laws in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

lucha libre Lucha libre (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term used in Latin America for professional wrestling. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has developed into a unique form ...

promotions use mostly popular songs. In addition,

Extreme Championship Wrestling HHG Corporation, doing business as Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), was a professional wrestling promotion and media company that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as National Wrest ...

used popular music in order to promote a hip, edgy, counter-culture image.

History

In the early 1950s, female champion

Mildred Burke Mildred Burke (August 5, 1915 – February 18, 1989) was an American professional wrestler. She is overall a three-time women's world champion under different incarnations and recognitions. Burke's heyday lasted from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950 ...

often entered to theme music, while

Gorgeous George George Raymond Wagner (March 23, 1915 – December 26, 1963) was an American professional wrestler known by his ring name Gorgeous George. In the United States, during the First Golden Age of Professional Wrestling in the 1940s–1950s, Gorgeou ...

was associated with "

Pomp and Circumstance Marches The ''Pomp and Circumstance Marches'' (full title ''Pomp and Circumstance Military Marches''), Op. 39, are a series of five (or six) marches for orchestra composed by Sir Edward Elgar. The first four were published between 1901 and 1907 ...

", a song which was later used regularly by

Randy Savage Randall Mario Poffo (November 15, 1952 – May 20, 2011), better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestl ...

. Around 1976,

Chris Colt Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...

started using " Welcome To My Nightmare" as his entrance theme and " No More Mr. Nice Guy" as his exit theme, both songs made by

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

Sgt. Slaughter Robert Rudolph Remus (born August 27, 1948), best known by his ring name Sgt. Slaughter, is a voice actor and retired American professional wrestler who is currently signed to WWE in the ambassador program. From the late 1970s to the early 198 ...

, who has sometimes claimed to have introduced the idea to

Vincent J. McMahon Vincent James McMahon (July 6, 1914 – May 24, 1984), sometimes referred to as Vince McMahon Sr., was an American professional wrestling promoter. He is best known for running the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, which was later renamed WWWF (World ...

, entered to the "

Marines' Hymn The "Marines' Hymn" is the official hymn of the United States Marine Corps, introduced by the first director of the USMC Band, Francesco Maria Scala. Its music originates from an 1867 work by Jacques Offenbach with the lyrics added by an anonymou ...

" at a

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

show in the 1970s. Though British wrestler

Shirley Crabtree Shirley Crabtree (14 November 1930 – 2 December 1997), better known as Big Daddy, was an English professional wrestler with a record-breaking 64-inch chest. He worked for Joint Promotions and the original British Wrestling Federation. Initia ...

had been using "

I Shall Not Be Moved "I Shall Not Be Moved", also known as "We Shall Not Be Moved", is an African-American slave spiritual, hymn, and protest song dating to the early 19th century American south. It was likely originally sung at revivalist camp-meetings as a slav ...

" as his entrance music in the 1970s in the United Kingdom. However, the practice did not become widespread until the 1980s, when the

Fabulous Freebirds The Fabulous Freebirds were a professional wrestling tag team who attained fame in the 1980s, performing into the 1990s. The team usually consisted of three wrestlers, although in different situations and points in its history, just two performed ...

, the

Junkyard Dog Sylvester Ritter (December 13, 1952 – June 1, 1998) was an American professional wrestler and college football player, best known for his work in Mid-South Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation as the Junkyard Dog (or JYD), a nickname h ...

, and various

World Class Championship Wrestling World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), later known as the World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA) (1986–1991) was an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Originally owned by promoter Ed ...

performers began using rock music for entrance themes. Music is also used as a promotional tool during advertisements, video packages, and as the theme of television programs.

In-house composers

The following are composers known for composing numerous in-house theme songs for particular wrestling promotions: *

Jimmy Hart James Ray Hart (born January 1, 1944) is an American professional wrestling manager, executive, composer, and musician currently signed with WWE in a Legends deal. He is best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World ...

(composed music for the

and

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nation ...

) * Michael Hayes (composed music for the

and

) * Jim Johnston (composed music for

) *

CFO$ CFO$ () was an American songwriting and production duo consisting of John Paul Alicastro and Michael Conrad Lauri. They were primarily known for creating entrance music and program themes for World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE). Career CFO$ ...

(composed music for

) * Doug Davis (credited as def rebel) (composes music for

) *

Dale Oliver Dale Oliver is an American music composer, guitarist and producer, who is signed to Impact Wrestling, where he is the head of Impact Wrestling Music. Oliver was formerly a guitarist for the American country music group Blackhawk, Reba McEntire, ...

(composed music for

Impact Wrestling Impact Wrestling (stylized as ''IMPACT! Wrestling''), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, the promot ...

) * Sheri Shaw (Sstaria) (composed music for

) *

Harry Slash & The Slashtones The Slashtones (also known as "Harry Slash & The Slashtones") are an American musical group, formed in 1993 by New York native Harry Slash under the name "Harry & The Slashtones". Harry would later change the band's name many times, from "The Slas ...

(composed music for

) * Yonosuke Kitamura (composes music for

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares ...

) * Julia Claris (composes music for

) * May's (composes music for

) * Brick (composes music for

) * No Name Tim (composes music for

) * Hot Tag Media Works (composes music for

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011, when the promotion was so ...

) * Adam Massacre (composes music for

) * Downstait (composes music for

and

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. It is considered the second largest wrestling promotion in the United States behind WWE. AEW is owned by Shahid Khan and his son Tony, w ...

) * Mikey Rukus AKA Mikey Ruckus (composes music for

) * John Kiernan (composes music for

United Wrestling Network The United Wrestling Network (UWN) is a governing body for professional wrestling promotions in the United States of America that was formed in 2013. History On October 21, 2013, David Marquez, promoter of Championship Wrestling from Hollywood ...

and various independent wrestlers)

References

{{Portal bar, Music Professional wrestling-related mass media