Professional Wrestling Thread

Quote: AZDuffman

I have done work there. Nice old prison, it made "Mindhunter." But the place is bad luck for me, twice now I have worked it and neither gig lasted a month. Plus going to lunch crossing the street to eat is suicide.

LaFayette? I'm surprised if there's not a Walk/Don't Walk at that intersection, but if not, there's almost certainly one a block down in either direction.

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I always thought he looked smaller on TV because DiBiase is about a foot taller. Guy worked for me met him in a bar. Some event did not draw enough so he did not have to work. Guy said he is so much bigger in person than he looks around the other wrestlers. Said he was a friendly enough guy.

Nah, Debiase is just an inch or two taller than Virgil. What I looked at said 6'3" for DeBiase and 6'2" for Virgil, though I don't think Virgil is quite 6'2". If I'd had to guess, I'd have said something like 6'5" and 6'3" (on TV), respectively. I didn't think DeBiase was 6'9", or anything.

Hopefully, he will be a nice enough guy to actually appear somewhere Virgil is one day...that will finally make Virgil's sign true. I wonder how many people have chatted Virgil up because they are waiting for DeBiase to appear?

Quote: Mission146

LaFayette? I'm surprised if there's not a Walk/Don't Walk at that intersection, but if not, there's almost certainly one a block down in either direction.

Only one main road. Even with the sign it is crazy.

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Nah, Debiase is just an inch or two taller than Virgil. What I looked at said 6'3" for DeBiase and 6'2" for Virgil, though I don't think Virgil is quite 6'2". If I'd had to guess, I'd have said something like 6'5" and 6'3" (on TV), respectively. I didn't think DeBiase was 6'9", or anything.

Hopefully, he will be a nice enough guy to actually appear somewhere Virgil is one day...that will finally make Virgil's sign true. I wonder how many people have chatted Virgil up because they are waiting for DeBiase to appear?

Maybe they set it up so he looks much taller. MDM was such a great gimmick DiBiase was told, "we can't tell you what it is but McMahon would do it himself if he could wrestle." But the best part to me was when he started humiliating Virgil and causing a split. It was the facial expressions. Virgil just sold it so well.

Quote: SOOPOO

Those who denigrate Vince McMahon miss the point. He is a businessman. He built the sham which is pro wrestling into a multi-billion dollar business, with Vince having a stranglehold on it. You can argue that he pushed this guy too much, or this gal too little. Big freaking deal....

Big freakin deal???????????????????
Owen Hart getting killed in the ring due to negligence hiring clowns to secure him from the roof
And of course Vince insists the show go on. My god. What a monster
A man falls to his death in the ring and the show goes on.
They announced on the air that Owen Hart was killed in the ring as the ambulance was driving away, yet the show went on
WTF. How sick can you get. Wrestling on a blood stained matt where a wrestler just fell to his death minutes before.
They treated his body like trash, scrape up the dead body and get the next wrestlers out there.
Owen's wife really really wanted to put Vince and his company on trial.
But
She has to think about her kids future and accepted the 18 million pay out

https://www.cbssports.com/wwe/news/owen-harts-legacy-a-priority-as-martha-harts-wounds-have-healed-though-her-distaste-for-wwe-has-not/

Martha hart really impresses. As soon as Owen died. She insisted on flying straight to the arena, climb to the roof and walk on the catwalk and see the actual distance her husband fell due to crummy equipment and incompetent employees. She took her kids also. Whole family was shocked at the distance between the roof catwalk and the ring.
This is family entertainment
Its stunning the dangerous stunts Vince insisted on putting his wrestlers in lethal danger

Quote: terapined

Big freakin deal???????????????????
Owen Hart getting killed in the ring due to negligence hiring clowns to secure him from the roof
And of course Vince insists the show go on. My god. What a monster
A man falls to his death in the ring and the show goes on.
They announced on the air that Owen Hart was killed in the ring as the ambulance was driving away, yet the show went on
WTF. How sick can you get. Wrestling on a blood stained matt where a wrestler just fell to his death minutes before.
They treated his body like trash, scrape up the dead body and get the next wrestlers out there.
Owen's wife really really wanted to put Vince and his company on trial.
But
She has to think about her kids future and accepted the 18 million pay out

https://www.cbssports.com/wwe/news/owen-harts-legacy-a-priority-as-martha-harts-wounds-have-healed-though-her-distaste-for-wwe-has-not/

Martha hart really impresses. As soon as Owen died. She insisted on flying straight to the arena, climb to the roof and walk on the catwalk and see the actual distance her husband fell due to crummy equipment and incompetent employees. She took her kids also. Whole family was shocked at the distance between the roof catwalk and the ring.
This is family entertainment
Its stunning the dangerous stunts Vince insisted on putting his wrestlers in lethal danger

Can't disagree with any of your points. But none of them contradict my point that Vince built a mega brand, that only a truly myopic individual could argue is not a gigantic success story.

I remember when Owen hart died. I liked his "Blue Blazer" character. Do you actually think Vince was involved in the hiring of any person/company/team that was in charge of the lowering apparatus? Doubtful. I also doubt he said.... "Hey, lets cut corners and hire clowns to lower Owen..."
Interestingly, the Sabres would lower "Sabretooth" from the rafters to the ice before games. I would think of Owen Hart each and every time.

Quote: SOOPOO

Can't disagree with any of your points. But none of them contradict my point that Vince built a mega brand, that only a truly myopic individual could argue is not a gigantic success story.

Vince was one of those right time/right place success stories. 5 years earlier there was not enough cable TV time to fill. Five years later someone else would have moved in. Even with that the guy has an amazing feel for the audience. He does push things past the limit but has recovered.

And he is the only man in history to have two pro-football leagues fail under his watch.

MY TOP 5 FAVORITE ENTRANCE THEMES

Once again, "Best," is a word that I tend to avoid for these types of lists, because it's totally subjective and there are hundreds, or even thousands, to choose from. With that, I'll present my Top 5 Favorite Entrance Themes:

Introduction

It's difficult to overstate the importance of an entrance theme, especially in high-level professional wrestling with packed arenas. An entrance theme merely done right exists to introduce and tell you something about the character it belongs to--so that aspect needs to fit. Someone who is going to come out and just beat the tar out of you, for example, should have (if not music that meets a specialty gimmick-such as The Undertaker) crashing drums, heavy guitars, grinding undertone and just generally sound like a lead in to a hard rock song. Sometimes, characters representing certain countries will have an associated, and generally stereotypical sounding, theme...but it gets the job done. Comic relief type characters, obviously, should not have overly serious themes.

An entrance theme done extremely well will become so tied to the character and illicit such an emotional response from the audience that the second or third note will immediately be followed by raucous applause, or a chorus of deafening boos.

HONORABLE MENTION: NWO. It almost made the list, but you'd hear the darn thing eleven times in one show!

#5 Christian Cage TNA Theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVrlNzQSTBE

This is a tough one to justify putting on the list, but I really just think it's a terrific musical composition for a pro wrestling theme on its own. We've got a great build-up of some synth leading into drums...then BOOM! This is the type of cacophony that is both catchy and impactful. If you're in the arena, (or blasting the TV with surround sound) the music itself is all-encompassing.

And then, out comes....a guy.

The truth of the matter is that Christian Cage was fast-tracked to the main event scene in TNA owing mostly to the fact that he had been in WWE for the better part of a decade and was part of two very successful tag teams, first with Edge and then Chris Jericho. While the tag teams themselves were legit contenders, and especially in the former case, put on ridiculous matches with some of the most epic (and dangerous!) high-risk moves in history---they were also somewhat (especially in the latter stages with Edge and the whole time with Jericho) used for comic relief.

In terms of singles pursuits, Christian was on-again, off-again, in the Intercontinental title scene in WWE and had a few very short runs with the strap. Christian was a great worker and always a really funny dude, (when they had him doing comedy-related things) but he was BARELY believable as an Intercontinental Title champ. The championship is often used as a catapult into the main event scene, which didn't really happen in this case, but the whole time you're thinking, "CHRISTIAN?"

Maybe it wasn't entirely his fault. Much like an actor or actress being typecast, Christian simply was way too entrenched in being seen as a comical character, at this point. When even one of the announcers refers to you as, "The creepy little bastard," all the time, that's going to be a tough thing to shake.

So, yeah, out comes...a guy.

The theme itself is positively epic, but what emerges onto the entrance ramp is the second most athletic guy on your local softball team. All the power and buildup behind the theme leaves you wondering, "For this?"

But, still a truly remarkable theme and inspired musical composition, by wrestling standards.

#4 Hardcore Holly-"Slow Death"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iADvEtUKWSM

This music just suits the character so perfectly. Hardcore Holly is a guy well-known backstage for being as tough as nails and he also has an extremely stiff working style in the ring. His finishing move, The Alabama Slam, might sometimes have you legitimately wondering if he hurt the guy---fortunately it's just a tuck and lay-flat type of bump that can have huge impact with little risk.

Anyway, this music just says, "I'm going to come out, I'm going to kick the tar out of you quickly, then I'm going to leave."

Hardcore Holly had everything you could ever want in a top-tier star---almost. Great theme, great look, incredible physique....but the guy should almost never hold a microphone. He could have very easily been in a heel champion in the early-era of wrestling, but in the late 90's and early 00's--if you can't talk, you can't headline.

Beyond that, many have said that Hardcore Holly is a bit too stiff in the ring, and the top guys making the mucho dinero simply aren't going to have that.

#3 Beer Money Inc. "Take a Fall (Instrumental)"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FK-LMeznzQ

I could do without the, "BEER-MONEY," at the beginning, we already know what the team is called, but I'm picking this version of the theme because all of the different instruments are the cleanest. In previous versions, (without the open) the theme didn't come off quite as well on TV (maybe it was better live?) because it kind of sounded like the instruments were more competing with each other than playing together.

Of course, later versions of this theme would incorporate some truly awful lyrics.

If I had to give someone advice on adding lyrics to a professional wrestling theme, my advice would be, "Don't." Even themes that start out with lyrics are pretty much garbage---most of the time.

Aside from that, this is mostly a tweener tag team that goes out and whips @$$ with a series of impactful double-team moves...when they're not cheating, that is. Why tweeners? How are you not going to kind of cheer for the guy who hits the entrance ramp on a mobilized beer cooler drinking a cold one? What was nice about this team, in general, is that comedy was a really small element of anything they did and were otherwise totally legit and a force to be reckoned with.

The theme works because it has hard rock elements that compliment Robert Roode and Southern Rock elements for James Storm. The lyrics made this fact, which I already considered pretty obvious, ridiculously blatant, "He's from the country, he's from the city..." yeah, no crap. Thank you.

Please avoid the version with lyrics. You'll be seeing these guys again if I ever get around to my Top 5 (or 10) Favorite Tag Teams list.

#2 Triple H "Higher Brain Pattern"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPaWssy1Jqg

Life's unfair, some guys just get all of the best themes, and HHH is one of those guys.

Unfortunately, this version was only used (to my recollection) for about three months, with some folks I've talked to claiming it wasn't even that long. Awful lyrics would later be added to this theme and it would become, "My Time."

I did have the good fortune of hearing this one live. The whole entire entrance was extremely well done. The entire arena would go nearly dark, then you hear the, "Higher Brain Pattern," distorted whisper...then BOOM!

At this point, Triple H and Chyna come out, both looking like legit bad @$$3$. They do a simple pose...not even a pose...they just stand at the point of the stage near the entrance ramp and a few simple colored lights change what colors are flashing on them. The simple colored lights continue as they make their way to the ring...Chyna enters the ring, Triple H stands on the ring apron on the hard cam side, then raises his arms in the air. (He rarely, if ever, did the water spit at this time).

Anyway, it's awesome and suits him perfectly. The guitars and overall composition are rough and tightly controlled (at the same time) at the beginning, letting you know you're not going to soon forget the time you encountered HHH, then, "The Cerebral Assassin." Perhaps the most brilliant aspect of this song is the descent into chaos off-and-on throughout, which actually kind of represents the way HHH's matches would go---particularly after the match when he was in heel mode---when he'd just lose his mind and beat all hell out of a guy.

This was almost #1, but....

#1 Kurt Angle "Medal"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYRKvdEJSJc

It's got the flair and bombast befitting an Olympic champion and has an obviously, "Patriotic," type of sound to it. The overall composition is both impactful and ceremonial, simultaneously.

However, one thing not a lot of people realize is this is NOT Kurt Angle's theme.

Well, not originally.

This theme originally belonged to wrestler, Del Wilkes, who in his brief time in WWE played the character, "The Patriot," who was basically a walking American flag. Kind of regarded as a so-so worker, at least for that level, he would feud first with Bret Hart directly then with the Hart Foundation (with various others teaming up with him) later on. He would eventually suffer a torn triceps and be released soon after.

Which was certainly a good thing for Kurt Angle because it's impossible to imagine a better working theme.

So, the theme fits. But---what really makes the theme is the crowd! The Bum-Bum---Bum-Bum----Bum-Bum, being replaced with chants of, "YOU SUCK," that can always be heard and overpower even the music in packed arenas. After Al Snow's, "What does everybody want," music came out...I thought never again would we see an entrance theme with that sort of audience engagement, "HEAD!", but this blows that out of the water.

Originally, the, "You Suck," chants were because Kurt Angle went from a brash and arrogant heel to a comic relief "Tweener," heel with Stone Cold Steve Austin and then has been here, there and everywhere on the face-heel spectrum after that. When he's in face mode, Kurt Angle will now enter and, "Conduct," the. "You Suck," chants, or clap along. I only know that because I did check out the one episode where he returned to Raw a few years back.

Does this make the list without audience engagement? Probably not, but it would be close. But, the audience engagement was what made this theme so successful.

(Of course, I was the one guy at these events cheering Kurt Angle---heel Kurt---as loudly as I could muster. I don't care about gimmicks, I am NOT booing an Olympic champion from this country in his own hometown. I'm sorry, I just won't do it.)

For effect I prefer Sgt Slaughter and the USMC Hymn. Back in the day he was one of the few with a theme. Boy it worked.

Musically I still like Demolition. Just some good riffs.

Quote: AZDuffman

For effect I prefer Sgt Slaughter and the USMC Hymn. Back in the day he was one of the few with a theme. Boy it worked.

Musically I still like Demolition. Just some good riffs.

That's a great and quintessential late-80's, early 90's wrestling theme. Those lyrics need 86'ed, but otherwise, it's excellent.

Quote: Mission146

That's a great and quintessential late-80's, early 90's wrestling theme. Those lyrics need 86'ed, but otherwise, it's excellent.

It is not a vocal driven song. IMHO no theme should be vocal driven since you can't hear the vocals well in the loud arena.

Quote: AZDuffman

It is not a vocal driven song. IMHO no theme should be vocal driven since you can't hear the vocals well in the loud arena.

I know it's guitar driven, but those lyrics are truly terrible and campy. I'd get rid of the vocals entirely.

You know how sometimes commercials will take a popular (or once-popular) song and change something about the lyrics to make them fit the thing being advertised? That's what this sort of thing makes me think of.

The Trelegy 1-2-3 commercial is the one that comes to mind, right now, probably due to recency bias. I puke in my mouth a little every time.

I mean, it's a prescription. Why does this commercial even have music? Ugh. I can't stand it when they do that.

So, there have been quite a few wrestling themes written with lyrics to fit the character. For instance, when the epic, "Higher Brain Pattern," became, "My Time," part of the lyrics went, "The marks...the suits...McMahon...," like, you're serious? You're actually going to put the name of another character in YOUR theme song? The song also references (booker) Kevin Dunn.

I have plenty of other examples. It's just bad. lol