Hello everyone. After delving a bit into the origins of WWE themes, we now turn to Jim Johnston. To this day, quite a few fans describe him as the best composer who has ever worked for WWE. There are several reasons for this.

Let’s start right away with his arrival. As previously mentioned, Vince McMahon had hired Jimmy Hart and JJ Maguire to compose entrance themes for the wrestlers; however, someone was still needed for promos, TV show intros, pay-per-views (PPVs/PLEs), and the like. For this reason, Jim Johnston was signed by WWE in October 1985. His initial work was limited to promos for WrestleMania 2 in 1986; he composed four of them in total. The first three were a mere 10 seconds long, while the fourth—which included the match card—ran for 57 seconds. These themes were first used on January 25, 1986, during the broadcast of *WWE Championship Wrestling*—an early program that served as WWE’s flagship show long before *Raw* was even conceived. *Raw* did not launch until January 11, 1993.

Theme No. 1:

 

Theme No. 2:

 

Theme No. 3:

 

Theme No. 4:

 

Even the theme for WrestleMania 2 itself was composed by Jim Johnston. He wrote additional themes for Survivor Series and Royal Rumble, as well as for WrestleMania 3 through 5. There is a very well-known WrestleMania theme—titled “WrestleMania 6″—that was first used for WrestleMania 6 in 1990; on YouTube, it is often labeled “The Grand Spectacle,” though that title did not originate with Jim Johnston. He also wrote countless promos for events as well as so-called “reports,” in which a presenter would announce the matches for the upcoming PLE.

 

However, there was a unique situation that persisted until mid-1993: not every wrestler had a personal entrance theme back then, so many walked to the ring without music. To compensate for this, starting in September 1981, a song—usually a recognizable radio or TV hit played as an instrumental version without vocals—was aired after almost every match on the weekly shows. Eventually, however, this became too expensive due to the licensing fees the WWE had to pay. Consequently, the practice changed on November 8, 1986: mainstream music was dropped from the shows, and Jim Johnston composed “bumper themes” instead; a total of 19 such tracks were produced and used. These bumper themes fall into two “sets”: the first set was used until November 10, 1990, after which they were replaced by a second set of new themes that remained in use until mid-1993. These themes ranged in length from a minimum of 36 seconds to over a minute. This arrangement served as a stopgap measure until the time when every wrestler quickly acquired their own unique theme. Not all of these bumper themes had titles; very few did. Information about them is scarce on YouTube; one usually only stumbles upon them—or hears them—by chance while watching old shows from the 90s, provided the audio wasn’t edited out or taped over years later. They were never officially released by the WWE and are considered prized treasures by many fans. Among these bumper themes was one that Jim Johnston created as an instrumental cover of Hulk Hogan’s “Real American” theme. Nowadays, this track is usually edited out of broadcasts. Its total length remains unknown, as only 44 seconds of the piece have ever been used. It also bears a resemblance to a track titled “Liver Dance”—used in the N64 game *WWF War Zone*—though that track was not composed by Jim Johnston. Incidentally, the most well-known of these bumper themes is “Haircut”—not to be confused with the “Haircut” theme composed by Jimmy Hart and JJ Maguire for Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. “Haircut” is a different version of the original *WWE Superstars* theme from 1986, which was also written by Jim Johnston. It has a total duration of 43 seconds; it was first used on November 15, 1986, and last used on November 10, 1993. Let’s compare them and have a listen to both:

(starting at 3:22):

Of course, you have to listen closely to the first video, as the theme gets somewhat drowned out by the commentary. Fun fact: There is actually a second version of “Haircut,” though it was used only once in 1987 for a tour promo. Feel free to ask if you have any further questions about this. In addition to the aforementioned “Reports,” WWE produced its own news programs with titles like “Update” or “Special Report.” Jim Johnston composed the themes for these as well—specifically the three themes for *Special Report* and, for *Update*, the final five themes used between February 14, 1987, and March 5, 1994 (when the show was cancelled). As previously mentioned, Jim Johnston also wrote the opening themes for the weekly shows starting in 1986. However, the versions of these shows aired in Canada were actually different; they often featured different opening videos and show titles (such as *Cavalcade* or *SuperCard*), and frequently used different theme music—often drawing upon Jim Johnston’s existing “bumper” themes.

It is also interesting to note that Jim Johnston often composed a theme for a wrestler without knowing much about them—for instance, the track “Blood” for The Brood (Edge, Christian, and Gangrel). He received great acclaim for his work, a reputation that endures to this day.

Things changed again starting in 1994: Jim Johnston rarely composed themes for PLEs or promos anymore, choosing instead to devote all his energy to composing themes for the wrestlers themselves.

As mentioned, Jim Johnston joined WWE in October 1985. He once stated in an interview that he could no longer recall the very first entrance theme he composed—which is hardly surprising, given the sheer volume of music he created for the company. While some research points to 1987, we naturally want to be more precise. We find, for instance, Bam Bam Bigelow—who later competed in ECW and passed away far too soon; starting November 24, 1987, he used a theme featuring the saxophone. After he left WWE again, that same track was later adopted as the fourth theme for the show *WWE Prime Time Wrestling*, beginning February 18, 1991. But had Jim Johnston not composed an entrance theme prior to that? We keep looking. That same day also marked the debut of the Ultimate Warrior’s famous theme. Is that enough for us? I don’t think so—and indeed, we find what we are looking for: On February 16, 1987, Jim Johnston composed the third theme for Blackjack Mulligan! Wait—Blackjack who? Blackjack Mulligan was the wrestler who, alongside Blackjack Lanza, formed the tag team known as “The Blackjacks” in the 1970s; together, they even won the WWE World Tag Team Championship. Blackjack Mulligan returned as a singles competitor for a brief period before accepting a backstage role with WWE.

Every wrestler starts small, and Triple H was no exception; he made his debut in 1995 portraying a snob. His first entrance theme was titled “Blue Blood,” and he has gone on to use a total of 27 different themes over the years. In the late 90s, he and Shawn Michaels used “Are You Ready,” a track written by Jim Johnston and Chris Warren. It remains one of the most recognizable themes to this day. However, there were also eccentric characters like “T.L. Hopper,” a plumber. Jim Johnston had to compose themes for them as well in 1996. Here are the results:

And what theme could have suited this wrestler better? “Sexy Boy,” the one Shawn Michaels used? I don’t think so. So here, too, Jim Johnston demonstrated his genius by managing to find fitting themes. Or take this example:

Do you actually know how The Rock started out in WWE back in 1996? He was constantly smiling, his entrance theme bore no resemblance to his later ones, and fans kept chanting “Die, Rocky, die.” That only changed in 1997 when The Rock adopted a more arrogant persona; it was only then that he became popular. So, to recap: Jim Johnston was surprisingly let go by WWE in 2017 after a 32-year tenure. He was the longest-serving employee and composed a vast number of entrance themes for the wrestlers. But that wasn’t all—he also wrote music for promos, show intros, signature sequences, bumper themes, and even intros for the Premium Live Events (PLEs). Jim Johnston contributed a great deal to WWE in terms of music. Many of his tracks were released commercially, as fans—both then and now—love his music.