What songs would make for good entrance themes?

[Carbomb]

1 minute ago, BomberPat said:

I was actually pitching "Nuclear" to somebody recently; I have a soft spot for songs that actually don't fit the set of guidelines I laid out earlier being used as entrance music - it's one of those, "once you know the rules, you know how and when to break them" things. I wanted it as an entrance theme for a heel that would just take his sweet time getting to the ring, like he's got somewhere better to be - it's grandiose enough that it comes across like the guy using it is full of himself, but slow enough that it would do the exact opposite of a fast-paced babyface theme, and just immediately sap any sense of fun from the crowd.

Definitely; as an extension of that, I like heel themes where the intro is ridiculously long, and the guy takes his sweet time to even appear in the entranceway, like with Jericho and the countdown, or The Rock with his slow heel Hollywood/helicopter 'tron theme.

[ColinBollocks]

Watch me strut, daddy.

[Keith Houchen]

Always thought this would be class, however with WWE's finger on the pulse I can see them cashing in on that The Matrix film that the kids love and have Bray Wyatt repackaged as an Agent Smith type.

[Carbomb]

Imagine a gigantic, monstrous psychopath walking slowly and menacingly to the ring to this tune:

 

[Jazzy G]

Still on the Vince DiCola tip how epic would it be if a heel had Megatron Must Be Stopped?

 

[Supremo]

Always felt they missed a trick not making, “Hate Me Now,” The Miz’s entrance song after this.

[d-d-d-dAz]

I appreciate he’s had a good career, particularly as he started from a place where he lacked any real credibility, but Christ... The Miz should be a much bigger star shouldn’t he?!

He’s great, and genuinely happy to be a genuine heel. I’d happily take him back in the main event. He could run Smackdown, for a start.

[PunkStep]

What a video package that was. Loved it at the time, and even watching it now it just screams 'superstar'.

[ColinBollocks]

Outside of Jerry Lawler carrying him in a great feud, that video was the only other good thing about that title reign. It's hard to remember now because he's been doing good work for ages, but The Miz wasn't a very good WWE champion.

However, I'm not against them giving him another go. I proper hated the sight of him after his title reign, but he's undeniably the best heel they've got, these days. Plus, Jinder (and previously Rollins) just smashed his "worst WWE champion ever" run; standards are low.

Anyway,

They'll be pointing at the Wrestlemania sign all year, every year.

[Merzbow]

Shit gimmick of the week: Bray needs a change, desperately, but the metamorphosis is gradual with him starting to realise he's not Bray and Wyatt is a character that he created and got so mentally consumed by that he forgot who he really was. Blah, blah, weeks of opposing sides of himself fighting until he finally becomes "Old School" Windham Rotunda. His theme during the transformation is..

 

[Guest]

On 26/02/2018 at 12:30 PM, Carbomb said:

I like heel themes where the intro is ridiculously long, and the guy takes his sweet time to even appear in the entranceway

In moderation, yes. But something that grinds my gears on smaller indy shows is every other wrestler, heel or face, waiting half a minute to step through the curtain. When it's happening for the fourth match in a row, it's not building anticipation, it's just making me reassess all the life choices that led me to sitting in this community centre on a Friday afternoon.

[PunkStep]

Conversely, I hate the fact that Kane comes fumbling out while his intro is still playing. It's not exactly a long into, just stay in gorilla for those few extra seconds. Instead, as soon as that organ music plays he's wandering out like the disappointment that he is. If he waited until the beat kicks in, like he used to, it's a much better entrance.

[Jon-Carr_92]

I've had loads of ideas. I think Higher Love by Steve Winwood would be spot on for a face. It times itself perfectly so that they could hit the ring stand on the turnbuckle upon the first "Bring me the higher love"

 

[Carbomb]

28 minutes ago, Uncle Zeb said:

In moderation, yes. But something that grinds my gears on smaller indy shows is every other wrestler, heel or face, waiting half a minute to step through the curtain. When it's happening for the fourth match in a row, it's not building anticipation, it's just making me reassess all the life choices that led me to sitting in this community centre on a Friday afternoon.

Yeah, but I think that's a problem with indie promotions in general; a lot of them don't co-ordinate their wrestlers, so as a result there's a good chance you'll see several things happening on the same show that should never happen more than a couple of times at absolute most, like near-finishes, chair shots, going to the outside for a big chunk of the match, Dusty finishes, mike promos, interference, similar finishes, use of the same high spot/big move, and, yes - long entrances. 

One thing I liked when SAS Wrestling was still going was that the booker always made sure to check on those things. He made it clear that the wrestlers had to consult with him so that he could give them a heads-up as to who was doing what, but also to lay down rules with regard to what happened in matches dependent on their place on the card, e.g. no near-finishes or outside brawls in the opener, no chair-shots anywhere except the main and semi-main, and no similar entrances or gimmicks unless they were in a stable or tag-team, or building towards forming one.

[BomberPat]

Could not agree more with that. I've refereed a few shows where - being the only guy that's in every single match - I really picked up on that sort of thing, and it can be so frustrating, just watching two guys go into a spot or a sequence and thinking, "fuck's sake, we did this two matches ago". WWE aren't immune from it either, but it's really a problem on the indies when - understandably - the booker isn't able to breathe down everyone's necks and go over every aspect of every match.

I know a couple of promotions that use "sign-up sheets" backstage, or just have rules posted up over the backstage area - so if the main event ends with a Piledriver, there might be notices up in the dressing room saying "NO PILEDRIVERS OUTSIDE OF THE MAIN EVENT", or the sign-up sheet would have a bunch of things on it like, say, "dive to the outside", "brawling outside the ring", "ref bump", and so on, and guys would mark who was doing what in each match, so - in theory, and if you give a shit about putting on a coherent show - you wouldn't use a spot that someone else had already taken. That relies on having a decent level of communication, and mutual respect, and an investment in putting on a decent all-round show and not just a good match for you personally, though.

 

On entrance music, long entrances and so on, again I'd put it down to people not putting as much thought into their entrance theme as they should. Plenty of times I've heard a song on my iPod and thought, "that would make a great theme", and then realised that the intro is 30-40 seconds long. Without having made an entrance before, it's easy to think, "that's not a long time, I'll wait 40 seconds and then come out when it kicks in", but 40 seconds can feel like forever when you're sat in the audience watching nothing happen, especially if it's not the only time that night, those seconds all add up.