Wednesdaymania 9

Another crazy week, but mostly in Japan.

Tomohiro Ishii busted open Kenny Omega's mouth

Bad Boy Tama Tonga went a little too crazy between taunting Roman Reigns and littering, so NJPW has decided to "take disciplinary action"

And, of course, we learned that our favorite neck-sliding madman, Hiromu Takahashi, may be returning to the ring in about a year!

That last one really has me stoked, because I thought for sure he was gone for good and we'd only ever see him in a wheelchair.

This week, I'd like to talk about wrestling entrance themes. Kind of.

I'm not prepared to write a dissertation on Jim Johnston or any of the other talented musicians who've come up with the themes for wrestlers (btw, Jim Johnston wrote most of WWE's entrance music for most of its popularity, including the Undertaker's and Kane's themes), especially not from my couch while I'm sipping coffee. Instead, I'm gonna talk about themes I like.

Sorry, it's another opinion week.

I'm not sorry.

If you're a wrestling fan, you've probably heard Ric Flair's theme. Actually, you've probably heard it about a thousand times in your life whether you've watched the limousine-ridin', jet-flyin', kiss-stealin', wheelin' & dealin', etc, etc, etc Sunovagun or not. That's because his entrance theme was, of course, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, better known, perhaps, as the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Because of course it was.

He's not the only one who used recognizable music, either, but his is one of the only cases that I've seen where they haven't gotten rid of that music over copyright. I mean, there are a few, like Self High-Five, and tell me if you recognize the song this is barely skirting past:

Jimmy Hart, buddy, that's clearly Nirvana. Yet they still play it every time DDP comes out.

I've put Brian Christopher's theme up here before, but I failed to mention that it was originally Wild Man Marc Mero's theme. Poor Mero. The dude cannot catch a break. His wife, Sable, stole his first theme (which was, honestly, the best thing about her when she started wrestling: that theme), and then BC came in and took his second, just as awesome theme.

Mero had a sad history of having themes that were far more "over" than he was. (Still working on that Kayfabe-to-English dictionary, guys).

I'm going to go a bit obscure here, guys, because I LOVE Ode to Freud.

What is Ode to Freud?

It's Mankind's exit theme after winning.

Mankind was Mick Foley.

Which is why most people never, ever heard this theme. Also, the crowds were inevitably too loud to hear the music, which is, sadly, a problem no one really has today.

Speaking of stuff from the 90s...

THE BROOD HAD ONE OF THE BEST THEMES. FIGHT ME.

Don't fight me. I'd lose. Badly.

But yeah, ever since the S/O started showing wrestling, I'd be bombarded with various renditions of the Brood theme.

"peep peep-peep peep... BWAHHHHHHHN...BWAHHHHHHHHHHHHN..."
"Yes, dear, Gangrel, Edge, & Christian are all cool."
"BWAAAAAAHN"

(This exchange never happened, but that's basically what we do to each other all the time, now.)

Let's go a bit more... Eastern.

TAKA!

Uh, don't click this next vid if you're not down for cursing. The new version of Taka's theme is... uh...
AWESOME (but he does swear).

I can never get enough Taka Michinoku. Seriously, the man is 44 years old and he still makes highly-athletic wrestling look like it takes him zero effort. And he hasn't really aged in about 15 years...

Taka is a vampire confirmed.

Staying in Japan, I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of Toru Yano's wrestling, but he's a great comedy heel. And yes, even though he's in a crew of babyfaces, Yano is absolutely a heel. The dude exposes turnbuckles like their his top and he's at Mardi-Gras.

But man, that's some theme.

I mean, I could probably dump a buttload of New Japan stuff here and be done with it, but I'm only going to give a few more, and I'm going to start with...

Kushida! The man with the Marty McFly gimmick! This guy can really fly, man. He just... he's spectacular to watch! Also, that theme can give you a great workout.

I'd use Tetsuya Naito's theme as a level to a super fun wrestling game, though.

Though I do have a friend who insists that it's a techno remix of the theme to The Final Story...

Friendo, you're spot on. Once you get past the opening bits, that's absolutely part of Naito's theme...

Not surprising! Japan loves their vidya games as much as the rest of us :)

Speaking of video games, this guy loves them so dang much, guys!

How do I know he loves video games? His finisher is the One-Winged Angel (aka Sephiroth from FF VII), he played video games vs Xavier Woods on UpUpDownDown and on the Being the Elite webseries (both are worth watching, especially since Woods & co are now playing D&D on UUDD), and Kenny Omega himself talks about them a lot.

Last one from Japan, guys.
I had a mini-war with myself, should I put the Rainmaker Kazuchika Okada's theme here? Or...

Believe it or not, every person in this group, with the exception of Taichi, is a total badass. And they come out to chick rock.

I doubt any of them have to be lonely warriors at night...

That's it from me today.

Go Enjoy Something!
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