Jim Johnston spent decades creating some of WWE’s most recognizable entrance themes, but he doesn’t expect Triple H to ever bring him back. In fact, Johnston puts the chances at “close to zero”—and believes Triple H may have viewed him as one of Vince McMahon’s guys.
Speaking on the Access Entertainment podcast, Johnston was discussing Chris Warren and the music he created for Triple H when the conversation turned toward his relationship with Paul Levesque.
Johnston believes things changed as Triple H moved away from being solely a wrestler and started gaining more influence behind the scenes.
“I don’t think he’s a very big fan. He’s—I think he, when he was coming into sort of out of wrestling into more of a behind-the-scenes role, he clearly wanted his own guys and he perceived me as Vince’s guy. So, I think that’s why I’m not being asked to write themes anymore.”
Johnston was then asked whether he could ever see himself making wrestling entrance themes again. He absolutely would, but getting the call is another matter. Johnston went even further when it came to the rest of WWE’s music operation.
“I’d be happy to do it. But you have to be asked, and I think that the chances that Hunter’s—that Paul’s going to ask are close to zero. That the WWE Music Group is going to call me up, I think is zero, and that the guy who’s currently doing the themes for WWE, I think is zero. Why would you invite me in or invite somebody else in?”
It’s not because Johnston has stopped making music. He says he’s still in his studio every day and regularly finds himself playing guitar and coming up with ideas that could easily become wrestling themes.
“For all those guys, I mean, I still come up with theme ideas all the time, you know, just me toying around on the guitar and like, that’s a really good theme idea.”
That’s also where some frustration has started creeping in. Johnston believes his decades of work have already proven what he can do, while his opinion of WWE’s current entrance music couldn’t be much harsher. From his perspective, the fact that WWE hasn’t even asked him to try another theme suggests something else is standing in the way.
“Without being cocky about it, I’m fairly confident that I’ve proved that I can do this. And the biggest player, WWE, has really crappy music. So, it just tells me that there’s just petty crap in the way here.”
Johnston even wonders whether that distance extends beyond WWE simply not calling him. He says wrestlers from outside WWE have approached him about music, but WWE talent haven’t. Johnston stressed that this is only what he thinks is happening, but he suspects talent may have been told not to contact him.
“I occasionally get contacted by a wrestler, but never from WWE, and I think that’s because they’ve been told not to.”
Johnston also claims wrestlers have told him they’ve offered to arrange and even pay for their own entrance music, only to have those requests rejected.
“Guys have told me they tell the powers that be, ‘I’ll find someone. I’ll pay for it. You know, no responsibility on your part. Can I do it?’ ‘No. This is your music. Boom.’”
Even Johnston isn’t claiming to know exactly where those decisions originate. He questioned whether people at the very top of WWE or TKO are even aware of every decision being made further down the corporate structure.
But when it comes to the possibility of WWE simply calling the man behind countless classic themes and asking him to make another one, Johnston isn’t waiting by the phone. He’d happily do it. He just thinks the chances of Triple H asking are almost nonexistent.
What do you think of Jim Johnston saying the chances of Triple H bringing him back are “close to zero”? Would you like to hear Johnston creating WWE entrance themes again? Let us know in the comments below.
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