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

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

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 A gimmick is a novel device or idea designed primarily to attract attention or increase appeal, often with little intrinsic value. When applied to retail marketing, it is a unique or quirky feature designed to make a product or service "stand out ...

of the wrestler they are written or selected for. For example,

Hulk Hogan Terry Gene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE as a brand ambassador. Known for his flamboyance and massive physiq ...

's most famous entrance theme in the

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

Rick Derringer Richard Dean Zehringer (August 5, 1947 – May 26, 2025), known professionally as Rick Derringer, was an American musician, producer and songwriter. He gained success in the 1960s with his band, the McCoys. Their debut single, " Hang On Sloopy", ...

'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 his ring name the Undertaker, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Calaway ...

has often used entrance themes which resemble a

funeral march A funeral march (' in French, ' in Italian, ' in German, ' in Polish), as a musical genre, is a march (music), march, usually in a minor key, in a slow Meter (music), "simple duple" metre, imitating the solemn pace of a funeral procession. Some suc ...

, including the ringing of an eerie funeral toll and a quote of Piano Sonata No. 2 (Chopin). In practice, modern day entrance themes are normally heavy metal,

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

, rap, or

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music Music genre, genre, originating from African Americans, African-American musicians in the 1980s that combines rhythm and blues with elements of Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, funk, Hip-hop, ...

, 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 variations of his famous catchphrase, "If you smell what The Rock is cookin'!" and originally "Do 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 194 ...

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. He is a freelancer who competes on the independent circuit as well as making in ring appearances for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), All Elite Wrestling (AEW) ...

’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 retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Flair's career spanned 50 years. He is ...

's signature exclamation of "Wooooooo!" prior to his entrance theme. Occasionally, companies will pay to have popular licensed songs be used as themes for their more well-known performers. Examples of this include

CM Punk Phillip Jack Brooks (born October 26, 1978), better known by his ring name CM Punk, is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw brand. Regarded as ...

having used "

Cult of Personality A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader,Cas Mudde, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create ...

" by

Living Colour Living Colour is an American rock music, rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. The band consists of guitarist Vernon Reid, lead vocalist Corey Glover, drummer Will Calhoun and bassist Doug Wimbish who replaced Muzz Skillings in 1992. T ...

, or the Luchador La Parka performing a dancing entrance in a skeleton suit to Michael Jackson's " Thriller."

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. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within ...

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 to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

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

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

lucha libre ''Lucha libre'' (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term for the style of professional wrestling originating in Mexico. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has develope ...

promotions use mostly popular songs. In addition,

Extreme Championship Wrestling Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was an American professional wrestling promotion that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and operated by its parent company HHG Corporation. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as Nationa ...

used popular commercial music (albeit without paying the proper royalties) for their various wrestlers in order to promote a hip, edgy, counter-culture image.

History

In the early 1950s, female champion Mildred Burke often entered to theme music, while

Gorgeous George George Raymond Wagner (March 24, 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 are a series of five marches for orchestra composed by Edward Elgar, together with a sixth march created from sketches. The marches were dedicated to his friends including composer Granville Bantock and or ...

", a song which was later used regularly by

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

. Around 1976, Chris Colt 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 Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

. Sgt. Slaughter, who has sometimes claimed to have introduced the idea to

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

, 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 Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

show in the 1970s. Though British wrestler

Shirley Crabtree Shirley Crabtree Jr. (14 November 1930 – 2 December 1997), better known as Big Daddy, was an English professional wrestler. He worked for Joint Promotions and the original British Wrestling Federation. Initially appearing on television as a he ...

had been using " I Shall Not Be Moved" 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 wrestling, professional wrestler and NCAA football, college football player, best known for his time in Universal Wrestling Federation (Bill Watts), Mid-South Wre ...

, and various

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

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. He is signed to WWE in a Legends deal. He is best known for his work in WWE when it was still known as the World Wrestling ...

(composed music for the

and

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling (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 National W ...

) * Michael Hayes (composed music for the

and

) * Jim Johnston (composed music for

) * CFO$ (composed music for

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

) * Dale Oliver (composed music for

Impact Wrestling Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (abbreviated as TNA Wrestling or TNA) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment, a Canadian media company owned by busine ...

) * Sheri Shaw (Sstaria) (composed music for

) * Harry Slash & The Slashtones (composed music for

) * Yonosuke Kitamura (composes music for

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...

) * 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; the promotion was subs ...

) * Adam Massacre (composes music for

) * Downstait (composes music for

) * Mikey Rukus AKA Mikey Ruckus (composes music for

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It is owned and operated by Shahid Khan, Shahid and Tony Khan, with the latter serving as President (corporate title), president an ...

) * John Kiernan (composes music for United Wrestling Network and various independent wrestlers) * Mike Rodgers (aka 'Mike the Rodgers') (composes music for Combat Zone Wrestling)

References

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