If there's one thing WWE has always done well over the years, it's crafting entrance music for its stars. Even the low-level guys have gotten tunes worthy of putting on albums and some got some great stuff. True, a few duds over the years, but when the music and the wrestler come together, it combines into a perfect act.
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Yet it's interesting how often WWE has reused music meant for another wrestler for a star. Usually, it's a bigger star getting a tune that was used briefly for a short-lived act years before. Other times, the original song was used so rarely, fans mistake it for another tune. On some occasions, a song meant for one wrestler is just taken by another. These ten stars all used entrance themes fans may not know were meant for someone else to show how music in WWE can often repeat itself.
10 The Heavenly Bodies
In 1993, WWE began a rare co-promotion with Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling. That involved SMW's top tag team, the Heavenly Bodies challenging the Steiners for the WWE Tag Team Titles at SummerSlam. Of course, WWE couldn't have the Bodies use their SMW theme "Frankenstein," so gave them a new one.
Or rather one used by the New Foundation, the short-lived team of Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart. The hard guitars and pounding music didn't quite fit the Bodies but never let it be said Vince McMahon doesn't believe in recycling.
9 CM Punk "This Fire Burns"
Fans are so used to CM Punk using "Cult of Personality" that it's easy to forget his original WWE theme was the pretty good "This Fire Burns." It was a great rocking tune that fired up Punk's first title wins and boosted him in WWE.
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Originally, the music was used by Randy Orton for a single week in 2006 when he was trying a new heel run but for some reason, dropped fast. It's intriguing to think how close Punk came to losing his theme to the Viper.
8 Ricky Steamboat
Back in the 1980s, WWE could get away with using "Sirius" as Ricky Steamboat's entrance theme. When Steamboat made his return in 2009, WWE couldn't afford the song anymore, so had to use something else. Rather than reuse Steamboat's WCW theme, they gave him the appropriate "Dragon" song.
This had actually been set for the Ultimo Dragon when he joined WWE in 2003. Sadly, Ultimo's run was a mess, and he was out of WWE in months. At least the theme's title fit Steamboat to use, yet odd he got the music intended for another Dragon.
7 Luke Gallows
It took a bit for the Big Show to get his famous theme in WWE, starting with the loud "wellllllll…." opening. Before that, Show wrestled under his real name Paul Wright and had the theme "Massacre." It rested in the WWE storage house for a decade until Luke Gallows began his solo run and someone dusted it off to give it to him.
As Show had used it so briefly, most fans had no idea it was a recycled theme at all. This run wouldn't last long for Gallows as the song never made him as big a star as Show became.
6 Kurt Angle
His recent return was a reminder of how iconic Kurt Angle's entrance theme has become. The boisterous patriotic theme was good enough when he debuted but then got better with fans chanting "you suck" to every beat.
But look at WWE programming twenty-five years ago, and you'll hear the same theme used for the Patriot. The masked figure got a brief push in WWE challenging Bret Hart for the WWE Title and that theme fit him nicely. Yet somehow, it just seems much better for Angle for a great song.
5 Cesaro "Miracle"
Much has been written about WWE never using Cesaro right. Despite his amazing looks, charisma and skill, the guy never got Vince McMahon's support. A warning sign should have been that rather than a fun theme of his own, Cesaro's "Miracle" was a barely reworked version of Dean Malenko's "Iceman."
It was the same theme, a couple of minor shifts but otherwise identical. Sadly, like Malenko, Cesaro never rose to the higher reaches of WWE, so this theme ended up being fitting.
4 Droz/Prince Albert
Yes, amazing as it sounds, three different guys used this theme. Back in 1995, WWE signed Maxx Payne from WCW and then gave him the gimmick of Man Mountain Rock, a would-be guitarist. His run was short, but WWE still had the rock theme song "Rock On."
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They decided to give it to Darren Droz when he began as Puke. Then Droz started teaming with Prince Albert so both of them used the song as well before splitting. For a guy who wasn't a real rocker, Man Mountain's theme got a lot of replays in WWE.
3 AJ Styles
As soon as the music hit with the Titan Tron saying "I Am Phenomenal" at the 2016 Royal Rumble, AJ Styles' entrance theme fit him in WWE. So it's surprising to know it wasn't meant for him.
It was actually going to be used by James Storm as "The Cowboy" was teasing joining NXT in 2016. He was even shown at a TakeOver in the crowd but ultimately decided to stick to TNA/Impact after his theme was written. Thus, it went to Styles and most agree it fits the Phenomenal One far better than the Cowboy.
2 Bobby Roode "Glorious"
Most agree that what helped get Bobby Roode over when he joined NXT was his fantastic theme song. "Glorious" was terrific, with Roode adding to it, like having a choir sing it as he headed to the ring and drove him to the NXT Championship.
Roode admitted his theme was meant for someone else, and it eventually was revealed it was intended for none other than Shinsuke Nakamura. Most will agree it worked out as Nakamura's own theme was fantastic, and this song helped Roode get over huge in WWE.
1 Hulk Hogan "Real American"
When Hulk Hogan began as WWE Champion, he originally had "Eye of the Tiger" from Rocky 3. In 1986, he switched it to "Real American," which became his iconic theme for years. In reality, it was part of the old "Wrestling Album" where it was openly stated to have been the planned theme for the U.S. Express of Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham.
Just as the album debuted, Windham left WWE, so they moved the theme to Hogan and the rest is history. It's still funny one of the most iconic themes of the Golden Era WWE wasn't meant for Hogan.
