Jim Johnston Criticises ‘Generic’ Wrestling Entrance Themes Of Today
Jim Johnston thinks WWE and AEW need to improve their entrance themes.
For more than three decades, Jim Johnston composed and recorded entrance themes for WWE and was responsible for creating the iconic music of Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Randy Orton, The Undertaker, and countless other WWE Superstars.
Speaking to The False Face in a new interview, Jim Johnston criticised the generic nature of entrance themes across both WWE and All Elite Wrestling today, claiming that the issue is one of the reasons neither company is creating stars on the same level as those from his era.
“It’s not something that, you know, ‘Oh, what a scoop. Jim is trashing the way things are now.’ I’ve been pretty vocal about it. It just sounds like noise to me, and all the themes just sound generic. It used to be, whether it was my music or a Jimmy Hart theme, or an outside band, you used to be able to be making dinner in the kitchen with the TV in the other room and you’d know who was coming out. You could almost follow the program from the other room. Now, I just don’t think it’s like that at all. And for some reason, the powers that be have forgotten their roots or something of how powerful music is in creating stars. I further believe that’s why they’re not creating, either WWE or AEW, they’re not creating big stars anymore. There are no new Steve Austins. There are no Rocks around now. And it’s because everyone’s sort of in this layer of generic. I don’t understand it.”
-Jim Johnston
Jim Johnston was released by WWE in 2017 and was subsequently replaced by CFO$, who had been contributing music to the company since 2012. In August 2020, CFO$ were released from their recording contract and disbanded shortly afterwards, with all production duties since being taken over by def rebel.
Throughout the def rebel era, WWE have frequently been criticised by fans over the perceived decline in the quality of the company’s entrance themes. Many point to the Royal Rumble as evidence of how the generic nature of today’s entrance music has directly impacted the quality of WWE’s events.
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