Entrance music is an iconic staple of pro wrestling, from the glass shattering to signify the arrival of Steve Austin to Cody Rhodes’ beloved theme from Downstait. Now, fans who relish hearing entrance themes know they have Hulk Hogan to thank, at least according to the Hulkster himself.
Speaking on the Try That In A Small Town podcast, Hogan took credit for innovating entrance music in pro wrestling. Hogan’s original theme, none other than the iconic track from Rocky, ‘Eye of the Tiger.’
“I went to the sound guy, I said ‘to hell with this. Eye of the Tiger, crank it up!’ I gave him five hundred bucks.”
Seeing the thunderous response the fans gave to hearing Hogan enter to the track, the Hulkster took the suggestion of entrance music to Vince McMahon. Not long, everybody in WWE and the wider wrestling world wanted to get in on the music action.
“Vince picked up on it real quick and it just took off. And then everybody wanted entrance music so Jimmy Hart sat up all night writing entrance music.”
Hogan may take credit for inventing the idea of wrestling entrance music, but like many of his claims, this one doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. In the 1940s and 1950s, Georgeous George would arrive to Pomp & Circumstance, a track later used for ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage. The Fabulous Freebirds would also use music in the southern territories, while in the WWWF, Sgt. Slaughter would use the Marine Corp Hymn before Hogan became the megastar he is.
While an argument can be made that Hogan popularized entrance music in the mainstream, he was by no means the first. And given the frosty reception Hogan received during Raw’s debut on Netflix, it may be a long time before fans here ‘Real American’ in a WWE setting.
