WWE Release Music Composer Jim Johnston After 32 Years

TheSportster

By Jesse Singer

Published Dec 1, 2017

The legendary composer had been with WWE since 1985 and had created the entrance music for The Rock, The Undertaker, Steve Austin and more.

The WWE has released another member of the organization, but it wasn’t a wrestler this time. Instead it was veteran WWE music composer Jim Johnston who had seen his career with the WWE span longer than any wrestler on the roster.

ThemeTitan (a social media account that reports on Johnston and WWE music news) tweeted out this morning that “Jim Johnston has been released by the WWE.”

Johnston got his start with World Wrestling Entertainment back in 1985 (when it was the World Wrestling Federation) and over his more than 30 years with the organization he has created the most iconic entrance music that fans have ever heard.

Johnston has been a part of so much WWE history. To put it in some perspective, the man got his start with the WWE before The Undertaker had even started his WrestleMania streak. And speaking of The Undertaker, it was Johnston who composed The Deadman's theme music - along with the music for Vince McMahon, Ultimate Warrior, Steve Austin and The Rock.

He also composed the music for the movies Legendary, Knucklehead and The Chaperone (all from WWE Studios) and wrote the score for the Hulk Hogan film, No Holds Barred.

You might not know his name, but there is no doubt - given the importance of Superstar's theme music - that, if you have been a wrestling fan for over the last 30 years then Jim Johnston has had a major impact on your experience.

That being said, since 2014, Johnston had seeded the reigns of WWE Music Group to CFO$ and had seen his role take on a secondary position from that point forward. The last theme song that Johnston created was the new music for Baron Corbin: Bring the Darkness (End of Days), featuring Tommy Vext.

When asked if possibly the split with the WWE was mutual and that maybe Johnston was just ready to go after putting in over three decades with the company, ThemeTitan responded, very directly, that that was definitely not the case:

At this point, neither Johnston nor the WWE have officially commented on his release.