Jim Johnston says he still comes up with wrestling entrance themes all the time, but there is one company whose wrestlers never seem to call him — WWE.
While speaking on the All Access Entertainment Podcast, the longtime WWE composer explained that he still spends time in his studio and continues coming up with potential entrance music. Johnston admitted it frustrates him because he believes he has already proven what he can do, while he feels WWE’s current music is nowhere near the level it should be.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating. I guess it’s mainly frustrating to me for two reasons. One is, 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 questioned why WWE wouldn’t occasionally bring him in to create something for a new talent.
“Why wouldn’t someone have thought occasionally, like, ‘Hey, for the hell of it, you want to write a theme for this new guy we got coming in?’”
His bigger concern, however, is the wrestlers themselves. Johnston said wrestlers have contacted him about music, but none of those calls have come from WWE talent. He believes there is a reason for that.
“The biggest thing is I just feel so sorry for the wrestlers because I occasionally get contacted by a wrestler, but never from WWE, and I think that’s because they’ve been told not to.”
Johnston said he has heard stories involving talent in both WWE and AEW who want different entrance music and are willing to handle the process themselves, only to have the idea shut down.
“I’ve been contacted by enough where I know that the stories I hear, both for WWE and AEW, that these guys lobby for music and they won’t let them do it.”
According to Johnston, some wrestlers have even offered to find and pay for their own music without putting any responsibility on the company.
“Guys have told me they tell the powers that be, ‘I’ll find someone. I’ll pay for it. No responsibility on your part. Can I do it?’ No. ‘This is your music. Boom.’”
The interviewer called the situation a “travesty,” but Johnston stopped short of going that far. He did, however, say the whole thing is strange and questioned whether the people making those decisions are even operating at the highest level of the company.
“Well, I don’t know if it’s a travesty, but it’s certainly weird. I always wonder when decisions like that are being made, do the people at the real top know that those decisions are being made?”
Johnston then pointed to the larger corporate structure surrounding WWE and TKO, suggesting that successful companies can reach a point where nobody wants to challenge the way things are being done. He offered his own theory for why nothing changes.
“Now you’re talking about each organization has its own corporate structure, and now there’s a corporate structure above that. So by the time you’re getting to the people who might have a larger vision to say, like, ‘Our music sucks. Why is that?’ I don’t know.”
“My guess is they both just become businesses. They’re making money, so nobody’s going to rock the boat.”
Johnston made it clear that he would still create wrestling themes if somebody asked. Whether WWE talent actually has the freedom to seek him out is another question, and Johnston clearly believes there are barriers keeping that from happening.
What do you think about Jim Johnston’s claim that WWE wrestlers may be discouraged from reaching out to him for entrance music? Should talent have more control over their themes? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
