wrestling / Columns
The Ten Count 10.11.13: Top 10 Themes Not Written Specifically For Wrestling
Welcome back to the Ten Count. As always, thank you for reading last week’s column. And here we go…
OF COURSE I MISSED A FEW THINGS
If I had known about the mistake I made on the list (you’ll see later what it is), this is on the list:
Awesome theme without the lyrics, made better with them.
Here is some WCW love:
Ladies and Gentlemen, This IIIISSSSSS STIIIINNNNNGGGGG!
I had this on my initial list, it is just f’in awesome:
I would love it if he used this theme one more time. It was just so different and still is.
YOUR THOUGHTS (IF WE WANT TO CALL THEM THAT)
How About a Punctuation Lesson: “…and performed by Motorhead (sorry, don’t know how to do the dot thing)” The dot thing in Motörhead is called a “Heavy Metal Umlaut” 😀
MY THOUGHT: I have now learned something new today. My quota has been reached so no more learning for me!
How About Some TNA Love: cause they got no love… my fave TNA themes:
5) LAX – it was like a riot was about to start
4) The Beautiful People – let the pigeons loose
3) AJ Styles – Get ready to fly! …I am, I am…
2) Kurt Angle – still gives me chills, him comin up from the bottom of the ramp
1) Cowboy James Storm – sorry, bout yo daaamn luck
MY THOUGHT: What is this TNA you speak of?
Why It Is a Great Topic for a Top 10: Great list. There are so many great themes, it’s impossible to make a top 10 list without there being debate. From the 80s with Jake Roberts, Ultimate Warrior, Ted DiBiase, Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan & Mr. Perfect, to the 90s with Bret Hart, HBK, Stone Cold, DX, L.O.D., New Age Outlaws, Razor Ramon, Goldust, Mankind, Kane, Gangrel, D’Lo Brown, The Godfather, Val Venis, Booker T, DDP, Sting, nWo, Goldberg,& nWo Wolfpac, to the 21st century with The Rock (including his awesome 2003 music), Hardy Boyz, E&C, the APA, Too Cool, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Triple H, RVD, The Hurricane, Maven, Brock Lesnar, Mysterio, the list goes on and on.
MY THOUGHT: It does go on and on. If I have the time and the motivation, I would do a top 100 list but I don’t know enough of the themes in TNA, ROH, and others for it to be a complete list. Hell, I might not know enough for a Top 10 to be a good list. Wait, please don’t go….come back…
ERRORS, CORRECTIONS, AND CLOSE CALLS
Here is something else I learned today from “k” (if that is your real name).
Little bit of a fact check-Shawn used Rhapsody in Blue as his first theme as a solo act, not the Sherri Martel Sexy Boy. Only lasted a few weeks though.
Damnit, I have now learned 2 things today.
A couple commenters mentioned that the Mr. Perfect theme is a direct rip-off of the theme to “Exodus”.
I just don’t hear it being a direct rip-off. I can tell there are some notes in there that are similar but it’s not so similar that it doesn’t belong on the previous list in my opinion. Thoughts?
This is something closer to an argument. The Undertaker’s theme is directly from Chopin’s “Funeral March”.
While I agree that his 1st theme was quite close to it this later theme is more than far enough away to not be DIRECTLY noticeable from the piece.
Finally, this little nugget was at the end of last week’s column:
So there you have it, the Top 10 Triple H Matches! What is your opinion?
Yeah, last week’s column was about wrestling themes. No one noticed/commented on it, whew!
NOW SOMETHING NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT, MY FANTASY FOOTBALL TEAMS!
On to Week 5 of fantasy football, my teams went 1-2 again. My teams are now 1-4 (it might be time to hit the panic button), 2-3 (not good, but still in the mix), and 4-1 (8 teams make the playoffs in a 14 team league, I think I am good there). The only issue that I have is that Michael Vick is (was) my starting QB in all 3 leagues. I now turn to Terrelle Pryor, Colin Kaepernick, and Nick Foles. I like all 3 of them but it is a scary thing to start Pryor and Foles. Just to update my suicides as one of them is dead, how does Atlanta lose to the Jets and lose Julio for the year? The other 2 are alive and kicking so that’s good news.
ALSO, HOW ABOUT THOSE CLEVELAND BROWNS?
Ho hum, it’s another win for the Browns. It’s starting to get boring with all this winning. I wonder if this is what New England fans feel like. Of course, going back to Weeden is not a good thing unless having been benched has been a big wakeup call for him. They have a very tough 4 weeks leading up to their bye (DET, GB, KC, and BAL). If they are able to win 2 of those games and be 5-4 during their bye week it will be very interesting. Very, very interesting.
Here are the Ground Rules
Without any further ado, here is the Top 10 Themes Written Not Specifically For Wrestling!
#10. {Jerry “The King” Lawler – “Pictures at an Exhibition, The Great Gates of Kiev”}
This song is about as royal and regal as anything you will hear at a wrestling event. Jerry Lawler is obviously not the 1st person to use this song but he is the most famous. The song is now associated with him and him alone in the world of professional wrestling. As an aside, I always forget that it’s actually called “The Great Gates of Kiev”. As the rest of these themes do, they add to the overall character the WWF was trying to build since most of their fan base didn’t know anything about Jerry Lawler. This was one of those key building blocks.
#9. {Taz – “War Machine”}
My older brother is a MASSIVE KISS fan so I was aware of the song before I started watching ECW. The first time he saw Taz come out to “War Machine” he freaked out.
I think we can just say that the song itself is great and the group that plays it is great as well. Taz was branded as being the “War Machine” in ECW. He was a killer and this song gave him a beat to walk out to and an edge that a quite frankly smaller wrestler doesn’t normally have. You have to give Paul Heyman credit for his creation of the Taz character. I think that without the song the character is not viewed in the same way and that would have killed him. I also enjoyed the next version “Survive if I Let You” with “War Machine” in the background but the original is your #9 theme.
#8. {The Midnight Express – “Chase”}
Let me start by saying, I freaking LOVE this song. The song was written by Giorgio Moroder for the movie “Midnight Express” taken from the book of the same name. It has been used by many, many people but none more famous that the wrestling version of “The Midnight Express”.
The only relation the song has to the tag team is that one was used in the movie and the other is the name of the team. It’s not like other songs on the list whose lyrics help to build the character. The song is just a great song with a killer disco beat that is just fun to listen to. It doesn’t hurt that it was used by a Top 10 tag team. Cornette still uses it to this day and I hope that when the ME is eventually inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame they use it for that one night. Here’s to hoping, right?
#7. {Rob Van Dam – “Walk”}
“Re-Spect!” “Walk” – ECW Crowd
RVD’s entrance might have been the 2nd best entrance (the best one is a little higher up on the list) in the history of ECW. That crowd always wanted something to chant and Kilgore’s “Walk” provided that perfectly. The theme is so fondly remembered that when RVD came back to WWE there was some talk about giving him his old entrance song back. I don’t think we will ever see that but it would be damn fun to watch a WWE crowd do what the old ECW did. They gave CM Punk his ROH music so I guess there is a chance, right?
#6. {Nexus – “We Are One”}
The Nexus were only around for about 9 months but their theme song was so great it is on the list at #6. “We Are One” told the story of the group in a perfect way. They were supposed to be a team of 8 that were going to take over the WWE. They were going to do it as one unit with one goal. It didn’t quite happen that way but 2 of them did go on to be World Heavyweight Champion. The fact that I (along with many others) still remember this song shows it was used very well and made complete sense in the storyline. I would like to see it used again as there will be another group that will try the same thing. Hopefully that group lasts at least a year.
#5. {CM Punk – “Cult of Personality”}
CM Punk used this music back in Ring of Honor then on a fateful night in July, 2011 WWE decided to shell out some cash for the rights and it became CM Punk’s official music. This must have cost the WWE a pretty penny but it was well worth it.
From Wikipedia: A cult of personality arises when an individual uses mass media, propaganda, or other methods, to create an idealized, heroic, and at times, god-like public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise.
I would say that sums up CM Punk (and many other wrestlers). Punk has always tried to create this “God-like” image. He wants to be the “voice of the voiceless” and be idolized. The song and his character are so good together that I am almost mad that WWE didn’t use it from the beginning.
#4. {Edge – “Metalingus”}
If it wasn’t for Edge I never would have heard this song. I am glad that he did since this song rocks. Edge walking out through the smoke at the exact right moment with Alter Bridge playing in the background got you ready for what you were about to see. I am disappointed that they never played this song live at an event since that would have rocked hard.
Edge and Lita had a hard rock look so they needed a song like this to walk them to the ring. This was a big upgrade to his original song and made his character even more “popular” and gave him a more vicious “edge” (see what I did there) to his persona. A great song with a great character, I call that a winning combination.
#3. {The Sandman – “Enter Sandman”}
I have a feeling that Paul Heyman may not have paid the royalties for the right to use this song. It is probably a good thing that Metallica didn’t hear about this until it was much too late. The Sandman walking to the ring, beer and cigarette in hand while the crowd was rocking to this song was the highlight of most ECW shows and was much more entertaining than the actual match itself. I especially loved when he opened the beers on the huge downbeats to the song. It is like when Triple H spits out the water at the same time during his song. I’ll say it again, Metallica is awesome!
#2. {Randy Savage – “Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, The Land of Hope and Glory”}
How about some trivia first, who was the 1st wrestler to use this theme music?
Gorgeous George. Raise your hand if you knew that. Congrats to all of you.
I will admit this, when I graduated from college walking down the aisle I pictured myself as Randy Savage. I will also bet that I am not the only person who was born in the late 70s/early 80s that did the same thing. This music is just so regal, so big, and so bold that it was perfect for the GIGANTIC personality of the “Macho Man”.
Also, raise your hand if you knew the real title of the march as “The Land of Hope of Glory”. You can use that tidbit to impress your friends.
#1. {Ric Flair – “Also sprach Zarathustra”}
This should not be a shocker to anyone reading this that Ric Flair’s classic music is #1 on this list. My belief is the version he used from 1983-1989 is the best one.
Flair in his book called this music “futuristic” and I can’t agree more. It was so futuristic that it was used in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The smoke, the lasers, the lights, and this music made Ric Flair even larger than life and his entrances legendary. In your mind, picture Ric Flair walking to the ring to “Easy Lover” by Genesis (but wait you don’t have to). It just doesn’t look, feel, or sound right.
I can’t believe that they wanted to use that song. It really makes me appreciate the importance of theme music and makes “Also sprach Zarathustra” the greatest theme used in wrestling, not specifically written for wrestling.
So there you have it, the Top 10 Wrestling Themes Written Not Specifically For Wrestling! What is your opinion?
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Next week, we will be taking a look at the Top 10 Hell in a Cell matches.
Until then, remember it’s all entertainment and shouldn’t be taken too seriously. And I’m out.
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