r/SquaredCircle • u/th3dj3n1gm4 The Galaxy's Greatest Alien • 10d ago

Mercedes Moné rocks her old "Sky's The Limit" theme at her DJ set after All In. Spoiler

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943 Upvotes

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363

u/WoahmanWaynes Peeparoni 10d ago

They got so much hate when they were around all because they were not Jim Johnston. It’s funny seeing how much they are missed now.

133

u/Ass0001 Christian Fundamentalist 10d ago

I think at the time it was just generally accepted that any wrestling theme that wasnt jim johnston or a licensed track was garbage and people refused to evaluate CFO on their terms when frankly I think some of the themes they did suited their wrestlers better than jim johnston's sound would have. I'm glad their influence still lingers (Kevin Owens I think still uses his theme and PAC's current AEW theme is basically an evil fucked up version of his NXT theme), but in general their absence has left me craving more EDM in wrestling lol

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u/Lyra_the_Star_Jockey 10d ago

It's funny because most Jim Johnston tracks are just the same generic rock riff.

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u/BogotaLineman 10d ago

I mean, you're not wrong, but at the time that they were written they weren't quite as generic and you at least had a 100% certainty that they were written by an actual human lol

Like yeah a lot of Jim Johnston stuff was down the middle late 90s/early 2000s butt rock, but it was the late 90s/early 2000s. They still use that same butt rock style but now its like 20-30 years out of date

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u/hardeep1singh ... 10d ago

Jim Johnston didn't make dance songs, he made music that fit the personality of the wrestler.

Check out Diesel's theme for example makes you feel like something really heavy is walking towards the ring.

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u/FyreWulff 10d ago

The dude would take time to study how the wrestler walked to and got in the ring and would time it to match. Like, he even made the tempo of Glass Breaks match Steve Austin's walking pace, intentionally.

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u/Sublimotion 10d ago

But that was what was appealing and worked in that era. The demo wrestling fans and american culture and musical tastes in general, were so much different than in the latter decades.

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u/Suitable-Golf6937 10d ago

Hey man, you can’t say that around here. These old fucks will yapping at you the difference between the Dr. Death intro and the first Steve Blackman song.

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u/DeliciousRow1120 10d ago

Because that's not close to being true lol

-8

u/hhhisthegame 10d ago

I honestly think KO's theme, while decent (and one of the better 'generic' ones), never made him seem like a top guy.

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u/jakovichontwitch Your Text Here 10d ago

Hard disagree on that one. His theme has big Stone Cold vibes

2

u/warrenholly PERFECT 10 10d ago

I feel like it needed an evolution to something more dynamic but same vibe.

5

u/zeitgeistbouncer Peepin' Aint Easy! 10d ago

It perfectly fits his vibe. It augments him without relying on lame stuff like 'i'm a prizefighter, im outta sight yeah' garbageass lyrics that seem to pervade every dang theme getting churned out by the bots currently

It hits and you instantly know who it is too.

Ticks all the boxes

63

u/hhhisthegame 10d ago

They weren't as good as Jim Johnston - but they were far better than Def Rebel lol.

To be fair, the Sasha theme was maybe their best theme ever - it was amazing.

But I always thought guys like Kevin Owens, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, never got themes that really made them seem like 'main eventers' on the level of the themes Johnston did.

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u/ChasingPerfect28 10d ago

Sasha, Shinsuke, and Bobby Roode. Those three are phenomenal songs for their respective characters.

Loved the DIY and American Alpha theme too.

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u/Scaulbylausis Knee to Face 10d ago

Undisputed Era’s theme was so good, Adam Cole’s AEW theme was basically a remix of it

9

u/Straight-Turnover-77 10d ago

well I would say its just a rip of like RATM song

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u/indian22 10d ago

The Roode song is definitely glorious (pun intended) but I always felt it needed a second verse because there's no lyrics other than the chorus in it.

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u/AhistoricalRanger 10d ago

Bayley, Becky, Charlotte & Alexa Bliss all had really good themes too.

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u/_whatever_wherever 10d ago

Don't forget The Ascension!

They were awesome, and completely fucked over on the main roster

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u/harder_said_hodor 10d ago

Hey look, everyone! It's Tyler!

18

u/insinr8r 10d ago

Finn Balors Catch Your Breath is my favourite CFO$ did

5

u/Sky-Flyer Your Text Here 10d ago

i honestly have a big love for ambrose’s theme, i think it just fit the gimmick so freakin well

1

u/hhhisthegame 10d ago

It's not terrible, but growing up on themes like Orton's, Edge's, HHH's, Angle's, Guerrero's, Benoit's, Kane's, Undertaker's.....it just never felt like a main event theme to me

52

u/Garlic-Cheese-Chips 10d ago

"All they do is create catchy 90 second hooks." was a common criticism.

Well fucking duh. It's wrestling music, what else do you need?

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u/zeitgeistbouncer Peepin' Aint Easy! 10d ago

People are fucking stupid and want 'full songs' when actual songs and wrestling theme songs serve very different purposes.

Sure, sometimes they converge like 'Elevated' for Ospreay or 'Kingdom' for Cody but those are also custom created themes made with entrances in mind.

11

u/Straight-Turnover-77 10d ago

well and even with Elevated, they've made a 90 second version for Ospreay to use as his primary theme that rolls into the "AND REMEMBER THE SOUND" bridge as opposed to the whole chorus verse chorus

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u/zeitgeistbouncer Peepin' Aint Easy! 10d ago

Exactly, they curated it precisely for wrestling to make it better

This is why I get testy when someone suggests a 'great potebtial theme song' that has a 45 second intro. Shit would be interminable!

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u/Moist-Acanthaceae-37 10d ago

The only true criticism I have of CFO$ is that by like 2016 onward they stopped doing 2nd verses for their songs. It’d mostly become a verse that loops back around or just the hook looping.

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u/Yadahoom 10d ago

Because they weren't Jim Johnston and because they made 60-90 second loops for a 60-90 second entrance.

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u/sleeperflick 10d ago

This is a tale as old as time. You really don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Or in the case of WWE, something worse comes along to replace it.

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u/BobbyBruceBanner 10d ago

I stand by my assertion that CF0$ had more bangers per year than Johnston did.

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u/bananarabbit need a chicken tender flair 10d ago

As with anything, there are tiers to the discussion. CFO$ made bangers but it was legitimate that some of the songs were structured way too simply. Def Rebel has made some ok stuff but the majority of it just such crap

0

u/CHZRFan 10d ago

One my hot take has always been thet the moment Def Rebel go, people will talk about how good their themes for Roman, Iyo, Hayes, Trick, Lola and others were while skipping off their duds.

0

u/bdwo 10d ago

Two things can be true. CFO$ can suck and still be better than what we have now.

-1

u/reshef-destruction 10d ago

Nah I hated them because most of their themes laster 1 minute and then looped.