Secret History of Entrance Theme Music in Wrestling

Description

From Hulk Hogan’s patriotic “Real American” to the smell of what The Rock was cooking to the shattering of glass for “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Undertaker’s iconic gong, a professional wrestler’s entrance theme music makes them instantly identifiable and sets the tone for what’s to come. But did you know that this wasn’t always the case? From the origins of entrance music in the early 1900s to its modern-day evolution, dive into the rich history of wrestling music and uncover the secrets behind some of the most iconic tunes in the business! The Untold Story of Pro Wrestling’s Earliest Use of Entrance Theme Music For most of the early history of professional wrestling, wrestlers only had the sound of the crowd’s reaction to accompany them during their entrances. There was a deadly silence when certain wrestlers entered the ring, while for some, like Bruno Sammartino, without a note of blaring music or hint of pyro, the barrel-chested powerhouse walked down the aisle in a plain pair of tights, and the building erupted in sheer joy, excitement, and pandemonium. Entrance music didn’t become a mainstay in pro wrestling until the late 1980s and early 1990s. Before this, only the biggest stars and a few select others had entrance themes. Interestingly, Gorgeous George is often wrongly credited as being the first to use theme music with his "Pomp and Circumstance" in the 1940s and ‘50s. It’s a theme today that is mainly associated with "Macho Man" Randy Savage and high school graduations. Yes, he was one of the only wrestlers from that time to embrace entrance music as part of his gimmick. However, George borrowed the use of entrance music and other aspects of his gimmick from Lord Patrick Lansdowne, who portrayed a foppish British aristocrat replete with a fawning valet. For bigger shows, His Lordship occasionally had live bands play “God Save the King” upon his entrance in the late 1930s, almost a century before Shinsuke Nakamura and others dramatically did the same.