Music in professional wrestling

Music in professional wrestling serves a variety of purposes. The most common uses of music in professional wrestling 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, although some wrestlers have a separate song that plays when they exit, ranging from a similar piece or remake, to something completely different. 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, Jacob and Eli Blu (The Blu Brothers) had an entrance theme in the World Wrestling Federation that resembled a piece of Blues music, while The Undertaker has often used entrance themes which resemble a dirge and include the ringing of an eerie bell, beginning with a 'Gong'. In practice, modern day entrance themes are normally rock, rap, or R&B, as these genres of music are popular with the professional wrestling key demographics.

Original music

Due to licensing costs, entrance themes are often composed by the promotion 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 music, which is available for no fee. Due to less restrictive copyright laws in Mexico, Lucha libre promotions use mostly popular songs. In addition, Extreme Championship Wrestling used popular music in order to promote a hip, edgy, counter-culture image. ECW owner Paul Heyman previously worked in the music industry, and used his contacts there to secure more affordable licensing deals for music. For example, ECW licensed Metallica's Enter Sandman for their performer, the Sandman (Jim Fullington)– but only licensed the music for live events and broadcasts. On TV and DVD productions, the song was replaced by a cover version performed by Motörhead, which was significantly cheaper to license for distribution than the original. One common misconception about ECW's licensing habits occurs because often the original music can be heard on "fan-cam" tapes. Because ECW events were heavily traded via these bootleg-style "fan-cam" videos, it is often assumed that ECW didn't license their music, but in truth, all of ECW's official productions used properly licensed music.

History

The history of entrance themes is not clear, but Glen Stride is often cited as being the first wrestler to be accompanied to the ring by music. In the early 1950s, female champion Mildred Burke often entered to theme music, while Gorgeous George was associated with "Pomp and Circumstance," a song which was later used regularly by "Macho (King) Man" Randy Savage. Sgt. Slaughter, who has sometimes claimed to have introduced the idea to Vince McMahon, Sr., entered to the "Marines' Hymn" at a Madison Square Garden show in the 1970s. The practice did not become widespread until the 1980s, however, when the Fabulous Freebirds, Hulk Hogan, the Junkyard Dog and various World Class Championship Wrestling performers began using rock music for entrance themes.

Other uses

Most major wrestling promotions also pick a song as a "official theme song" for their PPV's, and weekly shows. (WWE Monday Night RAW uses an edit of Papa Roach's "...To Be Loved") They also use mostly lesser-known music (sometimes composed by themselves) in their promos for matches and storylines. In comparison, WWE's ECW on Syfy broadcast utilises Saliva's "Don't Question My Heart" as its theme song while the "Friday Night SmackDown" broadcast uses "Let it Roll" by Divide the Day. TNA Wrestling uses "Cross the Line" by AD/AM as the theme song for its weekly TNA iMPACT! broadcast.