10 WWE Theme Songs Influenced From A Licensed Song

Songs in mainstream media have at times clearly had an influence or sampling from another song of a different artist. Outright copying is not allowed, but a hardy influence has been seen as a sign of respect.

This concept is also used for professional wrestling themes. Underground and independent promotions will just play copyright music whereas larger promotions such as WCW composed their own themes heavily influenced by mainstream music. Vince McMahon has purchased the rights to use licensed music, but sometimes the famous songs create an influence for their themes.

10 "Stone Cold" Steve Austin - Rage Against The Machine

The iconic glass shatter and subsequent guitar fans love to hear signify the entrance of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Austin has had several themes during his time in WWE, most just being a variation of his signature "I Won't Do What You Tell Me" theme that was created by WWE's former musical composer Jim Johnston.

When looking for inspiration for a theme filled with attitude and rebellion, Johnston turned to the group Rage Against The Machine and their 1996 song "Bulls On Parade" off their album Evil Empire. Austin would begin to use the theme months after his debut in 1996.

9 Ted DiBiase Jr. - Pink Floyd

Second-generation superstar Ted DiBiase Jr. did not have a career as successful as people thought. DiBiase also had several themes in his WWE run with a few revolving around his tag team with Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. DiBiase had themes for being part of the Priceless and Legacy teams.

DiBiase also tried out a few other themes when in singles competition. Ted's theme in 2008 was titled "Million Dollar Baby" and although it had a bit of country twang, the theme has a strong resemblance to "Money" off Pink Floyd's legendary 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon.

8 Drew McIntyre - Metallica

drew-mcintyre-intercontinental-championship

Now walking out to a battle theme orchestrated with bagpipes, "The Scottish Warrior" Drew McIntyre had quite a different theme during his first run in WWE in the late 2000s. During his persona as "The Chosen One", WWE contracted the group Shaman's Harvest to create Drew's theme.

Oddly, WWE did not turn to the group with their own organic, unique, original song. Instead, the group created the theme "Broken Dreams" which was influenced by Metallica's "Turn The Page" off their 1998 album Garage Inc.

7 Dude Love - The Bee Gees

All three of Mick Foley's faces, four if you include his natural self. have a unique theme song. Although Foley's theme "Wreck" was also used at times for Mankind, Mankind had "Schizophrenic" as well as "Ode To Freud". Cactus Jack had "Whole Lotta Groove" and the wavy-gravy cool-cat known as Dude Love had "Dude Shack".

The hippie-based Dude Love danced as if he was in the 1970s and had a matching theme song to boot. The influence was not strongly heard but the heart of Dude Love's theme stems from The Bee Gees' popular 1977 song "Stayin' Alive" off Saturday Night Fever.

6 Carmella - Iggy Azalea

A woman of several personas, Carmella is a cornerstone of the WWE's modern women's division. She has been "The Realest Girl In The Room", "The Princess of Staten Island", and "Untouchable". From her start in NXT in 2014, Carmella came out with the theme "Fabulous" and would use it for years.

"Fabulous" was a blatant copy of Iggy Azalea's 2014 song "Fancy" off the album of the same name. Despite being a rip-off, her theme induced a crowd reaction every night with the catchy spell-out of F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S, YES!

5 Ruby Riott - Rancid

An interesting relationship was made after Ruby Riott's WWE departure. Before joining and debuting in AEW, a bond grew between Ruby and the band Rancid. The group wanted Ruby to use their song "Ruby Soho" which would also become her ring name. While in WWE, Ruby still had a relationship with Rancid.

Ruby did use the theme "Mindless Masses" at first but her theme "We Riot" took great influence from Rancid and their 1995 song "The 11th Hour" off the album ...And Out Come The Wolves.

4 Mickie James - Toni Basil

Coming onto the WWE scene in 2005 in a way that WWE will not acknowledge anytime soon, Mickie James had a theme song that was infectious and a great segue for crowd participation. In a polar opposite of her "Hardcore Country" persona and theme in 2022, James in the 2000s entered to "Obsession".

Heavy on clap endorsement, "Obsession" takes influence from the Toni Basil 1981 tune "Hey Mickie" off the album Word of Mouth. As if the clapping similarity was not influencing enough, the Mickie James-"Hey Mickey" connection should be obvious.

3 Samoa Joe - Pharoahe Monch

This theme contains an influence within an influence. Another WWE theme that was infectious for crowd participation was Samoa Joe's "Destroyer". This was Joe's second theme with the company and undoubtedly the best of his two. "Destroyer" started off with a riff similar to an old-school monster movie before breaking into a groove that cast chants of "JOE! JOE! JOE! JOE!"

The theme itself takes heavy influence from the rap song "Simon Says" by Pharoahe Monch that was off the 1999 album Internal Affairs. As for that opening riff on "Destroyer", in the same spot as "Simon Says" a sampling was used from the score of the 1992 monster movie Godzilla vs. Mothra.

2 Razor Ramon - The Eagles

Being synonymous with two different theme songs, Scott Hall fans arguably preferred when "The Bad Guy" came out to his Razor Ramon theme as opposed to the nWo theme. Ramon's theme "Bad Boy" was used from when he first debuted in 1992.

"Bad Boy" bared a striking resemblance to the 1979 song "Those Shoes" by The Eagles off the album The Long Run. "Those Shoes" was a tremendous fit of a theme influence for Razor as the groove and beat of the song allowed him to make a slow and cool entrance that was beloved.

1 Nunzio / The F.B.I. - Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys were known to let the beat...mmm, drop! The beat was dropped into WWE in 2003 when Nunzio and The Full Blooded Italians stable began to use a theme influenced by MCA and co but while competing in ECW in the '90s, the group used a remix of "Stayin' Alive" by The Bee Gees.

In mid-2003, Nunzio and The F.B.I. began using the theme "Brooklyn" which paid a great homage to Beastie Boys and their song "No Sleep Til' Brooklyn" off their iconic 1986 album Licensed to Ill. Nunzio used the theme for the remainder of his WWE career.