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This feature originally appeared in 2014. The Undertaker is exhuming it for this weekend’s Wrestlemania 33 in Orlando.
With all the chair shots, chokeholds, and convoluted story lines, you can sometimes forget that pro wrestling at its essence is purely entertainment. Nowhere else is that more apparent than the music that plays when your favorite grappler enters the arena. Seriously, a great theme song can be the difference between immortality and mediocrity. We’ve collected the 50 best individual, tag-team, or entire event/promotion themes. These are the best of the bunch from then and now … brother.
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ECW Theme (ECW)
“This Is Extreme!” – Harry Slash & The Slashtones
Even the theme sounds underground. The creeping guitar licks raise into an intense crescendo until the lead singer reminds you what you’re currently experiencing. “THIS…IS EXTREEEEEEEME!” A great fit for the scrappy underdog of a promotion.
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Mr. Perfect (WWE)
“I’m Perfect” – Jim Johnston
From the era when you recognized who was coming out from the very first note, Mr. Perfect’s theme sounds like background music at the Olympics or some kind of really fancy tennis event. Or at least a prestigious dog show, right?
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Edge (WWE)
“Metalingus” – Alter Bridge
Far and away the best thing anyone affiliated with Creed has ever produced. The reworked version of the track off of the group’s 2004 One Day Remains album is rare in that it’s the only song Edge used from the day he debuted it to the end of his career after a neck injury in 2011. Pure intensity.
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Brock Lesnar (WWE)
“Next Big Thing” – Jim Johnston
A generic theme when you get right down to it, but it’s a nice throwback to the Attitude Era, when the opening notes were immediately identifiable and put you on notice.
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CM Punk (WWE 2005-2011)
“This Fire Burns” – Killswitch Engage
While “Cult of Personality” is one of the better “Hey, this theme fits the guy we’re talking about, huh?” songs out there, the raw energy and metal-y goodness of the song Punk used from his OVW days through the white hot Summer of Punk II in 2011 got me going. (Note: Go find the entrance from Money in the Bank 2011 if you want an idea of how insane that song was when it hit.)
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