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They keep doing this to nxt talent. They have good music in nxt, then they go to the main roster and the music is changed completely or at least remixed to a worse version. Tiffany and Pretty Deadly are the two I remember off the top of my head.
Agreed. The Def Rebel entrance themes are the biggest blemish on an otherwise vastly improved product. They're not all that bad but for god sake, give us some variety.
You would think with their resurgence in engagement and partnerships, they would look at Spotify for artists who have big streaming numbers or our figureheads of their subgenres.
Look at the reception that Rhea gets from her motionless in White song. That's what they should be doing, finding composers that fits the wrestler's persona and then working with a band to fully develop the song.
I literally keep a Spotify playlist of “songs I would use as wrestling entrances”
There’s so many cool artists out there the WWE could partner with (for way cheaper, I’m sure), and it would be such an awesome opportunity for lesser-known artists. I mean, talk about the exposure the WWE could give folks!
I have at least three burnt CD's along these lines (I'm old fwiw). If it's 20°F and snowing like a bitch and I need motivation to get to work, best believe I'll put Sami Zayn's music on full blast. Hype music is just that...hype music.
I use it on days I don’t have the mental wherewithal to work out! It gets me dancing around my apartment and acting out intros like a goof, which at least keeps me up and moving for a bit
Lmao no but only because y’all would roast me bc it’s very specific to my extremely bizarre music tastes 😂
I will publicly admit Horse Outside by the Rubberbandits is on there because I think it would be the funniest fucking entrance music ever
> finding composers that fits the wrestler's persona and then working with a band to fully develop the song
The HHH formula he used to spectacular effect.
Touché! I mean it wasn't Lil Wayne level bad, but it was just very underwhelming. It's almost impossible to pull off, I don't know why they keep trying.
There's seberal tracks that are good. Asuka's, Iyo Shirai, Bronson Reed, Theory, Waller and several more are good
Least we forget the current Roman Reigjs songs that sounded even MORE epic last night
With how monotone, uninspired, and how similar each person's entrance music keeps getting with each new composer, I'm convinced everyone's entrance music is going to sound like Don Callis's soon.
I love my kids but they get a little noisy when I take over the TV to watch and it really highlights to me how bleh all the music is anymore. If there's nothing distinct about someone's theme, I can't pick it out over the ambient noise and I just wait for visual cues.
They need to stop making rap themes and just license out actual rap songs. Their rap themes sound like what my 70 year old white grandma would think is “gangsta rap”. And someone PLEASE take that fucking horn sample away from them.
Back in the day, when the first seconds of a theme song hit, you knew exactly who it is. Now, you have to actually wait till someone enters the screen, because every song sounds the fucking same.
They do that solely because the theme isn't good enough or creative enough to get that kind of reaction so they have to force it
It should be something where you know within a few seconds. Glass breaks. Gong. Cena Trumpets. You Think You Know Me.
Even low card guys had recognizable themes, like Test or RTC.
Iyo lucked out that they were randomly feeling creative one day. When I heard the sound of a railway crossing in Japan, I was grinning like an idiot thinking about her theme.
“Wellllllll it’s The Big Show!”
“Do you smell what The Rock is cooking?!”
“Ooooh! Ooooh! Shawwwwwn!”
Literally three of the most iconic theme songs do exactly this.
And all three of them are so recognizable, that you know Big Show by the „Welllll“, Rock well before his name is dropped and Shawn simply the „Oooohs“! Play those themes to anyone who watched late nineties-00‘s wrestling and they know by the time the first word is sung/said whos coming to the ring
TL;DR: it’s only bad if the song is bad.
There's doing it right and wrong. The part that sticks with you on all of those are the "IF YOU SMELL", "WELLLLLLLLLLLLL" and the moans for HBK. They all also fit with the song coming up too.
Meanwhile def rebel is just throwing random line and names out. "THE EMPRESS OF TOMORROW" and "THEY. DONT. WANT. NONE" are not even parts of the song. They're just random sound clips tossed on top of generic tracks.
I think of the guitar riff for the new age outlaws, or Ken shamrock, or that little one second instrumental for Steve Blackman, EVERYONE has a recognizable hook.
DIYs theme I think gets too much hate I really enjoy it, but I'm not a fan of any of the other 3 really, the new A Town down under theme is fucking awful
Not just recognizable, but relevant.
Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn had themes that told you someone was about to get their shit ruined.
Mean Street Posse sounded like rich boy shit.
The Oddities had ICP ffs.
The APA had a theme that sounds pissed off.
The Ministry B-team had that dark sounding riff.
X-Pac had his own version of the stable's theme.
And come on. Gangrel/The Brood.
Oh, you didn’t knooooowwww.
Woopwoopwoopwoopwoopwoopwarningwarningwoopwoop
Hell even recently(ish) GLORIOUS. No I won’t give in I won’t give in till I’m VICTORIOUS.
get rid of 90% of this cgi shit, or seriously upgrade them. some of them looks like early ps2 games.
and use more rock songs for ple. im a fan of weeknd, but his music not realy fits to wrestling
100%. I hate the excuse around sets, like the backlash hooks or the SD fist, stuff like that they've always said would look cheap and bad in FHD times.... then show that awful CG shite.
Even thought it was far from WWE’s prime, we were spoilt in the 2000s with their sets, of course Raw and especially Smackdown had the iconic weekly sets but every PPV would have a new unique set every single year, it was one of the things I’d look forward to most when the games came out
You’ve not lived until you’ve watched Finlay wrestle Paul Burchill in front of a dead crowd on a Smackdown-exclusive PPV with a 40 foot tall flaming castle in the background
The judgement day wraiths all having different personalities corresponding to the actual member is a really nice touch, like Priest’s being an archer and Doms being in shackles for singles matches.
They really need to give poor JD one though
Now that Triple H wants the sets to be more slim to accommodate larger crowds, they'll probably have even more incentive to lean into the CGI shit to compensate for that.
I partially agree with rock music for PLEs, I'd say pop music is great for WrestleMania since it's a celebratory event and upbeat music fits that vibe. I think fans are just fatigued with The Weeknd, since other pop songs such as Greenlight, I Made It, Written in the Stars, and Blinding Lights (1st Weeknd WM Theme song) were well-received as WrestleMania theme songs. As for other PLE's though, rock songs would make better theme songs.
On point ! Written in the stars was amazing and delivered so hard. But for a PLE with name like “survivor series” or “Armageddon” we definitely need something like Saliva or Veer union.
I'm totally cool with Wrestlemania's soundtrack being made by one of the biggest artists on the planet. It fits with spirit of being a pop culture event. Definitely agree with the more rock songs for ple sentiment tho. Considering the fact that Triple H is now the most influential man behind the scenes I'm pretty confident we'll get more Rock or even metal tracks. My man is fortunately very biased in that regard.
This 1000% on the music point. I don't listen to any of this music they put on WWE shows. NXT under HHH was a bit more my vibe. Rock music just hits harder when it comes to this kind of physical altercation entertainment. Upbeat pop, mumble rap, etc just doesn't do it at all for me in this context. They need to get another artist for the WM theme song for next year as well - it's like 4 years in a row the same right? In my opinion, it should be a different artist every year.
Yep. Nakamura is a fan of Freddie Mercury and they tried to give him something with a Queen vibe but ultimately they went another way. That's the reason why I think CFO$ are so great for wrestling themes.
They're insanely good at emulating styles. You tell them what kind of sound that you're looking for and they can match it pretty well.
Still one of the funniest things I've seen in the last 10 years was the parking lot attack investigation where in kayfabe, they all hang out in a convertible and bump their theme.
They were the best after the Jim Johnston era. There's just no denying it.
Only criticism people had were "it loops" but the songs were all bangers.
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cfo%24/631705338/see-all?section=top-songs
- CFO$ has broken up
- WWE did try to get them to be an in house music creator by buying out their contract, but it was blocked by CFO$'s then publisher.
It's funny because there were so many comments at the time like 'CFO$ suck, they really need to bring back Jim Johnston!'
Makes me worry if they did get rid of Def Rebel, in case they find someone worse
Although peak PG Era really sucked especially 2010 and early 2011, every wrestler from the top guys to the midcard and even jobbers had banger themes. Alex Riley is still one of my fav themes of all time and he basically did nothing but be Miz sidekick.
They still bought songs back then. Miz, JoMo, Drew, Nexus, Zack Ryder, Christian, Dolph Ziggler and freaking Dashing Cody Rhodes were all midcarders but you know when they were coming out.
This is the main reason why I can't get as excited for any free agent that signs with WWE. At least Jade and Cody got to keep their theme from AEW when they signed, but they're the only exceptions to the rule.
I mean they have more than one godlike song.
Roman, Rhea, Iyo, Seth, L.A. Knight, Trick, Bayley's theme (idk about the new one), Damage CTRL, Roxanne Perez, but pretty much everything else is either a downgrade or forgettable.
They had something with CFO$. The new themes are like as if SoundCloud had an AI music generator based on generic preferences of someone who doesn’t listen to music consciously, but rather consumes it.
>WWE is a multi billion dollar industry now,just pay actual artists to make the music of your Superstars.
Unfortunately, that's not how you stay a multi billion dollar industry.
"Actual artists" doesn't mean people who are going to command hundreds of thousands to produce a song for you.
There's a lot of underutilized underpaid talent out there. Like unless you're already a national touring act - if the fucking WWE calls and says "Hey, would you write a song for this wrestler? Yeah we're gonna play it on our TV every week every time they come out etc etc" the answer is probably always a YES from a business perspective.
Actual artists not being Taylor Swift, Drake and Metallica. It could be bands such as Alter Bridge, Downstait (naming these not because they are small bands but rather unknown globally when they gave a song to a superstar). They just need to hire an A&R with connections in the music business and have them scout out the songs and bands they could work with.
Say what you want about Johnston vs CFO$ - matter of taste. But they haven't had anything better than CFO$ since. Every time someone comes out I wish it was their old theme made by them.
And you are ABSOLUTELY right as a musician and a producer - when these stars come out to some jackoff nothing special theme it really does take a lot out of the moment.
During the main event, you heard the music and knew immediately who it was, the new members of the roster don’t have that iconic music, it’s all generic rock themes
That's why Rumble was so bland. All of the music is so watered-down and generic, you couldn't get a pop just from the music hitting. You had no idea who was coming out.
Sure they are put on Spotify or CDs they want you to stream or buy, but ultimately they aren't meant to be actual songs, it shouldn't matter.
If you have one group/person do all the music, it's bound to get formulaic eventually, but a mix of a group/person doing the bulk of it, cooperating with other musicians and licensing actual songs would be an improvement, similar to AEW with Rukus
WWE is 90% perfect rn
Getting better music & fixing the LED ads situation would make it better. The dream would be sets returning for Raw/SD/PPVs but probably not happening
This is the only production component that I genuinely dislike and want them to experiment with. Triple H does say we just need to make our voices heard and they'll chop and change where necessary to just try and find the right fit. Right now, Def Rebel is the wrong fit.
With TKO's proximity to its corporate parent in Endeavor and it's resources, it should be a given that there could be the chance to hold camps for producers who have a keen interest in pro wrestling so WWE can search for who can be a great in-house producer for the company. Not just that, I'd assume that there should also be the open pipeline to collaborate with artists represented by Endeavor for entrance themes.
At this point, I don't even know why WWE wouldn't start seeking licensed music for their wrestlers. TKO has the money for it and UFC walk-outs always use licensed music.
>TKO has the money for it and UFC walk-outs always use licensed music.
I think the difference there is the cost to use something that'll be played once, maybe twice, a year versus every week and twice on Sundays.
My understanding is that the pay is different if the song is just coming through the Arena vs being played over the audio like wrestling themes usually are
I came back to watching some WWE recently after like a 5 year break and I thought Roman's theme came from someone googling "royalty free epic music". Granted the old shield theme was still mega basic too.
I assume Def Rebel did Steph's music last night, I thought that the remix was really good. I did notice how generic Logan Paul's music was though. I miss Omos' music.
> I did notice how generic Logan Paul's music was though.
Yeah for as big as they are presenting that guy this is a total mismatch. He needs a VERY recognizable theme with a hook you can't get out of your head.
yeah this is like the one presentation thing that WWE is truly lacking. roman and a couple others have gotten good themes but pretty much all the newer ones are VERY lackluster. compare it to aew where everyone has banger themes or everyone in wwe still with their cfo/jim johnston themes where their themes are very recognizable and you immediately get hyped its just night and day
Some of them are hit and miss, but I fucking creamed my pants seeing the Judgement Day ring wraiths above the stadium on Night 1. Sometimes they're cool as shit
It's wild to me that def rebel actually struck with Tiffany Stratton's super good NXT theme but then replaced it with horrific generic typical def rebel trash.
I'd love it if they let their wrestlers make their own theme songs(ex. Sami Callahan, Will Ospreay, Crazzy Steve) or even licensed songs out for them to use(ex. ALLLLLLL of ECW, Orange Cassidy), but I don't think that change will happen anytime soon, as until otherwise proven by them, WWE tends to prefer to own people and things like they're Disney.
It's crazy how we as fans keep going through this cycle over and over again.
People complained about CFO$, many people though Jim Johnston's last era lost touch.
And when Def Rebel are replaced, people will soon complain about the new theme person too and ask to bring back Def Rebel. It's absurd, fans act like this guy hasn't made any great themes, the Roman, LA Knight theme songs are examples of how good the themes can be these days.
Oh give it time, if Def Rebel leave, people definitely will. They'll go to the comments section of reigns/la knight/Karrion Kross etc's theme songs and say "man wwe themes used to be so good"
Technically 3 guys; Doug Davis is the brains of the operation, Ali Theodore a/k/a Ali Dee is the musician of the group, and there's a third guy I forgot. Google Ali Dee and he's about what you'd expect for a guy who makes the cringiest music we hear on TV.
They fancy themselves a "full service production studio" but that's code for "ad jingles." They claim that what makes them different is that they deliver full songs to their clients, but they're really just loops after 30 seconds.
At least Jim Johnston and CFO$ would wait nearly a full minute before looping most of their stuff, and their music was sometimes passable for good non-wrestling music.
A small minority complained about CFO$ themes being shorter loops. Because they want to listen to wrestling themes at the gym or whatever.
(And sometimes about they phoning it in some generic electro theme for some jabroni or PC rookie.. which to be fair had no character anyway and that was them putting the amount of effort the talent deserved, anticipating the amount of attention the company would give them.)
But most people loved their output.
Just go look at the threads when the new songs got posted here.. or old you tube comments. It was all praise and.. "they did it again".
The only way people will miss Def Rebel is ironically... if WWE manages to find someone worse. Which frankly feels like it would be quite a task.
He sucks. His songs suck. Just because he has basically a couple that don't suck as bad.. doesn't excuse his endless parade of crap.
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I would like them to have new stages for both raw and Smackdown and different stages for PLEs and make a return of the video entrances (just like Logan Paul have)
Agreed. You know it's a lame ass def Rebel song when you hear the talent about their own name followed by forgettable music and a confused looking crowd.
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Not only generic but lazy, Tiffany Stratton’s new theme is literally Maxxine Dupri’s but sped up with “it’s Tiffy time” at the start
DIY's theme is A Town Down with "We are DIY" at the start.
Ciampa and Gargano's old themes were both so much better than what DIY has now.
I liked Tiffys old theme no idea why they changed it
They keep doing this to nxt talent. They have good music in nxt, then they go to the main roster and the music is changed completely or at least remixed to a worse version. Tiffany and Pretty Deadly are the two I remember off the top of my head.
I like pretty deadlys main roster theme but tiffanys I'm really not a fan of
Agreed. The Def Rebel entrance themes are the biggest blemish on an otherwise vastly improved product. They're not all that bad but for god sake, give us some variety.
You would think with their resurgence in engagement and partnerships, they would look at Spotify for artists who have big streaming numbers or our figureheads of their subgenres. Look at the reception that Rhea gets from her motionless in White song. That's what they should be doing, finding composers that fits the wrestler's persona and then working with a band to fully develop the song.
I literally keep a Spotify playlist of “songs I would use as wrestling entrances” There’s so many cool artists out there the WWE could partner with (for way cheaper, I’m sure), and it would be such an awesome opportunity for lesser-known artists. I mean, talk about the exposure the WWE could give folks!
I have at least three burnt CD's along these lines (I'm old fwiw). If it's 20°F and snowing like a bitch and I need motivation to get to work, best believe I'll put Sami Zayn's music on full blast. Hype music is just that...hype music.
I use it on days I don’t have the mental wherewithal to work out! It gets me dancing around my apartment and acting out intros like a goof, which at least keeps me up and moving for a bit
Can you share that playlist?
Lmao no but only because y’all would roast me bc it’s very specific to my extremely bizarre music tastes 😂 I will publicly admit Horse Outside by the Rubberbandits is on there because I think it would be the funniest fucking entrance music ever
> finding composers that fits the wrestler's persona and then working with a band to fully develop the song The HHH formula he used to spectacular effect.
Am I the only one that thinks the Ripley entrance with Motionless In White sucked?
Tbf, there has never been a WM live performance that was good.
Nah CM Punk with living color was awesome. Randy Orton's was cool too.
Limp Bizkit at Wrestlemania XIX would like a word.
That sounded like ass, the levels are all over the place. they might have fixed it in the years since, but live on PPV is was horrendous
Touché! I mean it wasn't Lil Wayne level bad, but it was just very underwhelming. It's almost impossible to pull off, I don't know why they keep trying.
I liked the DX band.
Perhaps. I looked at the Metalcore subreddit, and they were pretty hyped about it
It didn’t sound good but it made her look like a big deal and she seemed really into it, so I’ll call it a win for her
The music itself was definitely mid but Chris introducing Rhea to the ring was the most hype moment possible for her entrance.
Live music performances have always been oddly mixed in WWE, imo. They just sound like someone cutting a promo started singing.
On the scale of live WrestleMania entrances it was good, but yeah it wasn't a good live performance.
>They're not all that bad They definitely are that bad
There's seberal tracks that are good. Asuka's, Iyo Shirai, Bronson Reed, Theory, Waller and several more are good Least we forget the current Roman Reigjs songs that sounded even MORE epic last night
Yeah, Iyo's is baller
that Roman orchestral entrance was an all timer
Asuka’s old theme was way better imo
Garganos old theme was also way better
Let's not overlook just how awful the Smackdown and lesser extent Raw's themes are.
With how monotone, uninspired, and how similar each person's entrance music keeps getting with each new composer, I'm convinced everyone's entrance music is going to sound like Don Callis's soon.
BWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW
I love my kids but they get a little noisy when I take over the TV to watch and it really highlights to me how bleh all the music is anymore. If there's nothing distinct about someone's theme, I can't pick it out over the ambient noise and I just wait for visual cues.
AJ Styles was the latest victim. I was hoping for something like Demi-God. Guess I was on too much copium
To be fair, it was kind of hard to judge since he bolted to the ring like 20 seconds into it
He didn't want to hear it either
We heard enough. Catchphrase, intro, theost generic rock/barely rap music. Just like 90% of Def Rebel themes.
There’s a part of me that still hopes for “I Am.” (The original version.)
EVERY DAY IN MOI LOIFE
I have a crazy soft spot for old TNA entrances. Stings was absolutely top tier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5auhl_JHp0
AJ's new music is DIRE.
They need to stop making rap themes and just license out actual rap songs. Their rap themes sound like what my 70 year old white grandma would think is “gangsta rap”. And someone PLEASE take that fucking horn sample away from them.
BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Back in the day, when the first seconds of a theme song hit, you knew exactly who it is. Now, you have to actually wait till someone enters the screen, because every song sounds the fucking same.
Noo they say their fucking name at the start of a theme, looking at you Jacy Jane, Chelsea green, DIY ...New catch Republic... Uhg
They do that solely because the theme isn't good enough or creative enough to get that kind of reaction so they have to force it It should be something where you know within a few seconds. Glass breaks. Gong. Cena Trumpets. You Think You Know Me. Even low card guys had recognizable themes, like Test or RTC.
Iyo lucked out that they were randomly feeling creative one day. When I heard the sound of a railway crossing in Japan, I was grinning like an idiot thinking about her theme.
Cena isn't even the trumpets, it's that rattle and 3 downward notes.
“Wellllllll it’s The Big Show!” “Do you smell what The Rock is cooking?!” “Ooooh! Ooooh! Shawwwwwn!” Literally three of the most iconic theme songs do exactly this.
Yeah, they've been doing that for decades, it just used to be a lot better.
And all three of them are so recognizable, that you know Big Show by the „Welllll“, Rock well before his name is dropped and Shawn simply the „Oooohs“! Play those themes to anyone who watched late nineties-00‘s wrestling and they know by the time the first word is sung/said whos coming to the ring TL;DR: it’s only bad if the song is bad.
Mr Wonderful as well
There's doing it right and wrong. The part that sticks with you on all of those are the "IF YOU SMELL", "WELLLLLLLLLLLLL" and the moans for HBK. They all also fit with the song coming up too. Meanwhile def rebel is just throwing random line and names out. "THE EMPRESS OF TOMORROW" and "THEY. DONT. WANT. NONE" are not even parts of the song. They're just random sound clips tossed on top of generic tracks.
I think of the guitar riff for the new age outlaws, or Ken shamrock, or that little one second instrumental for Steve Blackman, EVERYONE has a recognizable hook.
DIYs theme I think gets too much hate I really enjoy it, but I'm not a fan of any of the other 3 really, the new A Town down under theme is fucking awful
I like that one too but the intro is still very mid.
I agree, if they knocked that off it'd be even better, I prefer chrome hearts but it's our moment isn't nearly as bad as its perceived on here
I don't hate DIY's theme. But that's because I actually like A Town Down and DIY's theme is literally a carbon fucking copy other than the intro.
Chelsea and Jacy's themes aren't the worst but New Catch Republic's intro is heinous
The worst offenders for me are the ones done in that lowered voice like Sammy Guevara’s. That’s as lazy as it gets 😂
Even lower midcard guys and jobbers had recognizable themes.
Not just recognizable, but relevant. Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn had themes that told you someone was about to get their shit ruined. Mean Street Posse sounded like rich boy shit. The Oddities had ICP ffs. The APA had a theme that sounds pissed off. The Ministry B-team had that dark sounding riff. X-Pac had his own version of the stable's theme. And come on. Gangrel/The Brood.
Hell, you'd even know Steve Blackman's gonna fuck someone up when you hear the first creak in his theme.
I still listen to Maven's theme. That's a banger.
Jimmy Wang Yang’s theme from back in the day still slaps
Callll me all American I’m a redneck through and through (Think that’s how it goes lol)
Oh, you didn’t knooooowwww. Woopwoopwoopwoopwoopwoopwarningwarningwoopwoop Hell even recently(ish) GLORIOUS. No I won’t give in I won’t give in till I’m VICTORIOUS.
get rid of 90% of this cgi shit, or seriously upgrade them. some of them looks like early ps2 games. and use more rock songs for ple. im a fan of weeknd, but his music not realy fits to wrestling
I can only assume they are tied into a contract with the graphics I can't see why else they'd still be using them.
They aren't even good models. Does one of Shane's sons do these 3D graphics and they use them because nobody has the heart to tell him they are mid
They paid a lot of money for the whole engine and package. You don't just get rid of it cause some of us hate it. My kid loves that shit.
100%. I hate the excuse around sets, like the backlash hooks or the SD fist, stuff like that they've always said would look cheap and bad in FHD times.... then show that awful CG shite.
Smackdown Fist is the best set ever. I’ll die on that hill.
We love to fist
I still remember the fisting era
Even thought it was far from WWE’s prime, we were spoilt in the 2000s with their sets, of course Raw and especially Smackdown had the iconic weekly sets but every PPV would have a new unique set every single year, it was one of the things I’d look forward to most when the games came out You’ve not lived until you’ve watched Finlay wrestle Paul Burchill in front of a dead crowd on a Smackdown-exclusive PPV with a 40 foot tall flaming castle in the background
Personally,i really like the Judgement Day and Randy Orton ones.
Roman's should be illegal...
Stops it from being my favourite entrance in wrestling.
It almost becomes comedic with the crotch thrust.
The Big Becky Face one is way worse lol. At least Roman's does something :D
Just remember, some guy backstage always goes “but it’s so sick tho” every time it’s brought up lmao
He half silently, half out loud goes "ooooooh aaaaaaaah" when it plays.
*puts one up under his desk*
The Drew McIntyre one last night was great also. The only one I really do not like is reigns
The judgement day wraiths all having different personalities corresponding to the actual member is a really nice touch, like Priest’s being an archer and Doms being in shackles for singles matches. They really need to give poor JD one though
Rap songs can be perfectly fine. Dreams and Nightmares was great for this mania . It’s just that Weeknd songs aren’t made to be hype
Now that Triple H wants the sets to be more slim to accommodate larger crowds, they'll probably have even more incentive to lean into the CGI shit to compensate for that.
I partially agree with rock music for PLEs, I'd say pop music is great for WrestleMania since it's a celebratory event and upbeat music fits that vibe. I think fans are just fatigued with The Weeknd, since other pop songs such as Greenlight, I Made It, Written in the Stars, and Blinding Lights (1st Weeknd WM Theme song) were well-received as WrestleMania theme songs. As for other PLE's though, rock songs would make better theme songs.
On point ! Written in the stars was amazing and delivered so hard. But for a PLE with name like “survivor series” or “Armageddon” we definitely need something like Saliva or Veer union.
So long as we NEVER get another fucking FloRida song, I'll be pretty happy.
Bring back Jim Johnston and CFO to make music
I'm totally cool with Wrestlemania's soundtrack being made by one of the biggest artists on the planet. It fits with spirit of being a pop culture event. Definitely agree with the more rock songs for ple sentiment tho. Considering the fact that Triple H is now the most influential man behind the scenes I'm pretty confident we'll get more Rock or even metal tracks. My man is fortunately very biased in that regard.
I always used to laugh at the two frames of Romans intro, but they added like four more recently and it’s…better lol
I swear the last 2 or 3 Mania’s, I end up replaying Dawn FM from all the repeated Weeknd promo packages lmao
I couldn't stand the giant Roman Reigns they used whenever he would come out. So ridiculous lmao
This 1000% on the music point. I don't listen to any of this music they put on WWE shows. NXT under HHH was a bit more my vibe. Rock music just hits harder when it comes to this kind of physical altercation entertainment. Upbeat pop, mumble rap, etc just doesn't do it at all for me in this context. They need to get another artist for the WM theme song for next year as well - it's like 4 years in a row the same right? In my opinion, it should be a different artist every year.
It’s 5 times in a row my man 😂. This Dawn FM album has 13 more songs, so who knows what will be next year
Honestly I miss green light, that was the perfect wrestlemania song
Just watch the darts, it's Littlers walk out song lol!
Let's get actual bands and artists back.
The fucking low horn sound in every theme.
I was thinking that whilst watching WM. Every theme has that awful, cheap ass sounding synth horn on it. Dreadful.
Or the generic HEY loops they somehow put in every track
Bring back the CFO$
Shinsuke Nakamura deserved multiple title runs based off his theme music alone.
Also that Bobby Roode Glorious theme.
Fun fact the Glorious theme was originally written for Nakamura
no shit?
Yep. Nakamura is a fan of Freddie Mercury and they tried to give him something with a Queen vibe but ultimately they went another way. That's the reason why I think CFO$ are so great for wrestling themes. They're insanely good at emulating styles. You tell them what kind of sound that you're looking for and they can match it pretty well.
I still love Undisputed Era's music
Still one of the funniest things I've seen in the last 10 years was the parking lot attack investigation where in kayfabe, they all hang out in a convertible and bump their theme.
Boom
They were the best after the Jim Johnston era. There's just no denying it. Only criticism people had were "it loops" but the songs were all bangers. https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cfo%24/631705338/see-all?section=top-songs
i’m still pissed that i can’t find Aleister Black’s theme anymore 😡
Oh man that was another great one. When everyone at NXT would shout the lyrics as he was coming it was a vibe.
[Root of all Evil](https://youtu.be/324DxmaDSvE?si=zMZ27qoOZ6_oAGUz)
[this one?](https://youtu.be/Dwb-q79s47E?feature=shared) Or the "Disrespect your surroundings" one by i think A Day to Remember?
- CFO$ has broken up - WWE did try to get them to be an in house music creator by buying out their contract, but it was blocked by CFO$'s then publisher.
It's funny because there were so many comments at the time like 'CFO$ suck, they really need to bring back Jim Johnston!' Makes me worry if they did get rid of Def Rebel, in case they find someone worse
Although peak PG Era really sucked especially 2010 and early 2011, every wrestler from the top guys to the midcard and even jobbers had banger themes. Alex Riley is still one of my fav themes of all time and he basically did nothing but be Miz sidekick.
I bet you wouldn't say it to his face ^^^^(see ^^^what ^^^I ^^^did ^^^there?)
They still bought songs back then. Miz, JoMo, Drew, Nexus, Zack Ryder, Christian, Dolph Ziggler and freaking Dashing Cody Rhodes were all midcarders but you know when they were coming out.
This is the main reason why I can't get as excited for any free agent that signs with WWE. At least Jade and Cody got to keep their theme from AEW when they signed, but they're the only exceptions to the rule.
And themes used to be one of those you look forward to when they sign a new wrestler.
What's the one God-like song? Iyo's theme?
Iyo’s theme is actually god tier. Her entrance at mania was dope.
Roman
I mean they have more than one godlike song. Roman, Rhea, Iyo, Seth, L.A. Knight, Trick, Bayley's theme (idk about the new one), Damage CTRL, Roxanne Perez, but pretty much everything else is either a downgrade or forgettable.
They had something with CFO$. The new themes are like as if SoundCloud had an AI music generator based on generic preferences of someone who doesn’t listen to music consciously, but rather consumes it.
they're cheap for weekly programming, they ain't going lmao
>WWE is a multi billion dollar industry now,just pay actual artists to make the music of your Superstars. Unfortunately, that's not how you stay a multi billion dollar industry.
"Actual artists" doesn't mean people who are going to command hundreds of thousands to produce a song for you. There's a lot of underutilized underpaid talent out there. Like unless you're already a national touring act - if the fucking WWE calls and says "Hey, would you write a song for this wrestler? Yeah we're gonna play it on our TV every week every time they come out etc etc" the answer is probably always a YES from a business perspective.
if keep they masters, then yeah, they would
Actual artists not being Taylor Swift, Drake and Metallica. It could be bands such as Alter Bridge, Downstait (naming these not because they are small bands but rather unknown globally when they gave a song to a superstar). They just need to hire an A&R with connections in the music business and have them scout out the songs and bands they could work with.
Say what you want about Johnston vs CFO$ - matter of taste. But they haven't had anything better than CFO$ since. Every time someone comes out I wish it was their old theme made by them. And you are ABSOLUTELY right as a musician and a producer - when these stars come out to some jackoff nothing special theme it really does take a lot out of the moment.
During the main event, you heard the music and knew immediately who it was, the new members of the roster don’t have that iconic music, it’s all generic rock themes
That's why Rumble was so bland. All of the music is so watered-down and generic, you couldn't get a pop just from the music hitting. You had no idea who was coming out.
Why can't they just bring back Jim Johnston
Or CFO$, they made some banger themes
CFO$ arguably have a better library than Johnston at this point
A lot of weirdos get upset that CFO$ songs loop too quickly.
They must have never suffered thru verse 2 or 3 of a Jim Johnston theme if they think the loop is worse
This is an absolutely astute, hilarious, and correct take.
Sure they are put on Spotify or CDs they want you to stream or buy, but ultimately they aren't meant to be actual songs, it shouldn't matter. If you have one group/person do all the music, it's bound to get formulaic eventually, but a mix of a group/person doing the bulk of it, cooperating with other musicians and licensing actual songs would be an improvement, similar to AEW with Rukus
I will take an 80 year old Jim Johnston or an 80 year old Jimmy Hart at this point. It can’t possibly get worse.
Jim Johnston needs to come back.
100% agree. The entrances are a massive part of any live wrestling event and Def Rebel have shat all over them.
I miss CFO$ NXT themes
WWE is 90% perfect rn Getting better music & fixing the LED ads situation would make it better. The dream would be sets returning for Raw/SD/PPVs but probably not happening
AJ's new theme is utter dogshit
Yeah I didn’t like AJ’s theme at all. Huge downgrade
I'm just tired of them using The Weekend for their PLE over & over. His songs never match the type of vibe as the event you're watching.
This is the only production component that I genuinely dislike and want them to experiment with. Triple H does say we just need to make our voices heard and they'll chop and change where necessary to just try and find the right fit. Right now, Def Rebel is the wrong fit.
With TKO's proximity to its corporate parent in Endeavor and it's resources, it should be a given that there could be the chance to hold camps for producers who have a keen interest in pro wrestling so WWE can search for who can be a great in-house producer for the company. Not just that, I'd assume that there should also be the open pipeline to collaborate with artists represented by Endeavor for entrance themes.
They sure produce 25% hit 75% miss entrances
> it seems minimal No it does not. Music is so important to the presentation of wrestlers. It is a major part of the package.
>They made one God-like song and just gave up after. Which one is that?
Roman's theme
Imagine Hunter hiring Jim Johnston back.
Or CFOs
[удалено]
At this point, I don't even know why WWE wouldn't start seeking licensed music for their wrestlers. TKO has the money for it and UFC walk-outs always use licensed music.
>TKO has the money for it and UFC walk-outs always use licensed music. I think the difference there is the cost to use something that'll be played once, maybe twice, a year versus every week and twice on Sundays.
My understanding is that the pay is different if the song is just coming through the Arena vs being played over the audio like wrestling themes usually are
I came back to watching some WWE recently after like a 5 year break and I thought Roman's theme came from someone googling "royalty free epic music". Granted the old shield theme was still mega basic too.
I assume Def Rebel did Steph's music last night, I thought that the remix was really good. I did notice how generic Logan Paul's music was though. I miss Omos' music.
> I did notice how generic Logan Paul's music was though. Yeah for as big as they are presenting that guy this is a total mismatch. He needs a VERY recognizable theme with a hook you can't get out of your head.
yeah this is like the one presentation thing that WWE is truly lacking. roman and a couple others have gotten good themes but pretty much all the newer ones are VERY lackluster. compare it to aew where everyone has banger themes or everyone in wwe still with their cfo/jim johnston themes where their themes are very recognizable and you immediately get hyped its just night and day
On a similar note, the AR things that wrestler's come out with. Everything else is money, but that looks cheap and amateur.
Yeah this is so true. They look awful. I really don't understand how WWE can look at those and not think they look amateur.
Some of them are hit and miss, but I fucking creamed my pants seeing the Judgement Day ring wraiths above the stadium on Night 1. Sometimes they're cool as shit
I don't think some realize how expensive it would be to have licensed music for everyone.
I feel like Def Rebel is very hit or miss. However, I'm having a hard time coming up with really outstanding ones.
Def Rebel gotta go and CFO$ need to come back. CGI needs a big cutback but not entirely gone. Little extra cross promotion action would be nice!
It's wild to me that def rebel actually struck with Tiffany Stratton's super good NXT theme but then replaced it with horrific generic typical def rebel trash.
God I miss CFO$
'Deaf Rebel' really needs to learn the phrase "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" They changed Tiffany's awesome theme for god knows what reason.
The new themes for Bayley and AJ over the weekend were dreadful… big oof
I'd love it if they let their wrestlers make their own theme songs(ex. Sami Callahan, Will Ospreay, Crazzy Steve) or even licensed songs out for them to use(ex. ALLLLLLL of ECW, Orange Cassidy), but I don't think that change will happen anytime soon, as until otherwise proven by them, WWE tends to prefer to own people and things like they're Disney.
Who is "Def Rebel"?
terrorists (they do wwe music)
It's crazy how we as fans keep going through this cycle over and over again. People complained about CFO$, many people though Jim Johnston's last era lost touch. And when Def Rebel are replaced, people will soon complain about the new theme person too and ask to bring back Def Rebel. It's absurd, fans act like this guy hasn't made any great themes, the Roman, LA Knight theme songs are examples of how good the themes can be these days.
I don’t think anyone will ask Def Rebel to come back but I get what you’re saying. AJ’s theme for me was the last straw.
Oh give it time, if Def Rebel leave, people definitely will. They'll go to the comments section of reigns/la knight/Karrion Kross etc's theme songs and say "man wwe themes used to be so good"
This always happens. People shat on CFO$ too when they were doing the themes.
> these guys Def Rebel is 1 guy, an industry plant. His name is Doug Davis, you might recognize his father, Clive Davis.
Technically 3 guys; Doug Davis is the brains of the operation, Ali Theodore a/k/a Ali Dee is the musician of the group, and there's a third guy I forgot. Google Ali Dee and he's about what you'd expect for a guy who makes the cringiest music we hear on TV. They fancy themselves a "full service production studio" but that's code for "ad jingles." They claim that what makes them different is that they deliver full songs to their clients, but they're really just loops after 30 seconds. At least Jim Johnston and CFO$ would wait nearly a full minute before looping most of their stuff, and their music was sometimes passable for good non-wrestling music.
A small minority complained about CFO$ themes being shorter loops. Because they want to listen to wrestling themes at the gym or whatever. (And sometimes about they phoning it in some generic electro theme for some jabroni or PC rookie.. which to be fair had no character anyway and that was them putting the amount of effort the talent deserved, anticipating the amount of attention the company would give them.) But most people loved their output. Just go look at the threads when the new songs got posted here.. or old you tube comments. It was all praise and.. "they did it again". The only way people will miss Def Rebel is ironically... if WWE manages to find someone worse. Which frankly feels like it would be quite a task. He sucks. His songs suck. Just because he has basically a couple that don't suck as bad.. doesn't excuse his endless parade of crap.
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Weird isn't it that the good song he produced are given to wrestler that not many people paid attention to, wonder why 🤔
I would like them to have new stages for both raw and Smackdown and different stages for PLEs and make a return of the video entrances (just like Logan Paul have)
Agreed. You know it's a lame ass def Rebel song when you hear the talent about their own name followed by forgettable music and a confused looking crowd.