It’s sometimes underrated how important a wrestling theme song can be. A great one can instantly make someone a star like The Ultimate Warrior. A lot of workers have had some bad themes at first but then received much better music (Hunter Hearst-Helmsley’s “classic” entrance, for example). Frankly, a majority of themes aren’t good or bad, just rather bland and generic (especially TNA) and they don’t matter much either way. But the bad ones are memorable for all the wrong reasons. WWE, without a doubt, has had its share of awful theme songs that become hard to forget.
Some are just downright annoying, while others are painful to listen to. Worse is how they can genuinely hurt some careers, holding wrestlers back and making it impossible for fans to take them seriously as stars. There are scores of examples, yet these 10 theme songs stand out from the pack as entrance music so bad that, as soon as it began, it marred a wrestler and became an insult to both wrestling and music.
10 X-Factor
If anything helped create “X-Pac Heat,” this infamously horrible theme song was it. X-Pac, Albert, and Justin Credible united in 2001 for what was supposed to be a new top heel group. Then came the theme by Uncle Kracker, which starts like a boy band tune before some strange mix of rap, hip-hop, and early-90s club tune.
It’s all over the place, none of it was good and as soon as it hit, fans were ready to boo for the wrong reasons. The only factor this song had was ensuring this stable was a joke off the bat.
9 Bertha Faye "Sweet Lovin' Arms"
1995 WWE wasn’t fun, but it’s still astounding how they blew their opportunity with Bertha Faye. Rhonda Singh had been a monster in Japan and Alundra Blayze was looking forward to facing her in WWE. Then they turned her into a trailer park gal in love with Harvey Whippleman, coming out in unflattering dresses and pigtails.
The theme “Sweet Loving’ Arms” was as awful, gushing on her name and making her into more of a joke. She had a brief run as Women’s Champion, but the song showed how WWE ruined a potentially big star in a rough year for the company.
8 Dave Sullivan "I Want To Be A Hulkamaniac"
What’s worse than Hulk Hogan’s “American Made” WCW theme downgrade? Hogan singing a theme for someone else. Dave Sullivan had a cult following in WCW as a loveable goofball that could have gotten over better. Then they made him “the world’s greatest Hulkamaniac,” which ruined him.
That included this awful theme where Hogan gushes about his greatness and how to emulate him with a weird chorus of “I Want To Be a Hulkamaniac.” To little surprise, Sullivan took a serious downturn as Hogan’s words just did too much damage to him.
7 Red Rooster
Poor Jim Johnston. There he is in 1988 WWE, crafting some pretty good tunes for even lower-rung guys. Then he was told to make a theme for a wrestler with the specific order to keep putting crow calls into it. No musical savant could have made that work.
As soon as that opening crow began, fans were turned off and it continued with a bizarre “rap" upbeat to be incredibly annoying. Watching Terry Taylor try to “strut” to this was downright painful and no wonder it, and the entire act, was truly for the birds.
6 Marcus Cor Von "Smooth"
The former Monty Brown had gotten over in TNA as a fantastic monster who could crush his opponents. He was the “Alpha Male” and still had a good look in ECW. Giving him a jazz theme was just moronic and took away any “badass” feel for him.
Granted, he had his problems, including leaving soon over personal issues. Yet, WWE didn't give him much incentive to stay longer by taking what should have been a prime player and giving him a tune fitting for a local bar on a Friday night jam.
5 Bastion Booger
Bastion Booger was a doomed case no matter what. Mike Shaw was already a horrible-looking man who was then given an “outfit” that looked like a thin piece of tape over a slovenly belly. His entire act was eating and looking as disgusting as possible.
Leave it to WWE to top it all off with Booger’s entrance theme being farting sounds amid cheesy music as he marched to the ring. Nothing about this guy screamed out “intimidating heel” as it was just plain annoying, making Booger more of a pitiful guy than anything else.
4 Kung Fu Naki
Even if it was meant as a joke, this was ridiculous. Funaki had clicked with Taka Michinoku in Ka En Tai, especially their hilarious “eeeevil/indeed!” promo gimmick. When they split, Funaki was given the most cliche act imaginable with a “martial arts” gimmick.
While that was bad enough, the theme song did him no favors as it sounds like a 1970s kids cartoon with silly lyrics and cheesy videos. While Funaki tried to have fun with it, even as a comedy act, it flopped fast.
3 Ted DiBiase Jr. "I Come From Money"
It’s easy to tell what WWE was going for by linking Ted DiBiase Jr to his famous father. The “I come from money” line was good and some of it was not bad. The problem was first the tone as it just seemed too snappy and fun rather than sinister like the Million Dollar Man’s.
Worse was the brutal truth that DiBiase Jr. lacked the charisma his dad had. It just felt like a kid trying too hard.
2 Billy Gunn "I'm An Ass Man"
The 1999 solo push of Billy Gunn remains a strange one. He’d gotten over as a tag team wrestler, not a singles guy, but WWE pushed him hard, having him become King of the Ring. They also insisted on calling him “Mr. Ass” all the time, including his theme song.
It emphasized his rear end constantly as if it was a good thing, and it was just annoying to boot. It'd also be something too inappropriate to market in future years. Gunn’s solo push ended fast as he and Road Dogg were back together as The New Age Outlaws by the fall season. Gunn’s song, like his push, was best left far behind him.
1 Rob Conway "Just Look At Me"
Rob Conway had a decent shot at a mid-card career after splitting with Renee Dupree. His arrogant charisma could have turned him into a good heel. Then came the song. The piano intro, the snide lyrics, the whole thing sounded like a bad Billy Joel rip-off rather than a song fitting of a major heel.
Conway had his issues at times in the ring, but it was impossible to take him seriously with this idiotic theme song as the intro alone ruined any chances he had of becoming some bad-ass heel.