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What’s the story?
On a recent edition of Prime Time with Sean Mooney, Jim Johnston opened up on a myriad of topics.
Johnston revealed how entrance music for WWE Superstars gradually came into play. Besides, Johnston also thanked The Undertaker, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and Chris Jericho for their kindness towards him in the WWE.
In case you didn’t know…
Johnston is a musician, songwriter and music composer who worked with the WWE from 1985 until his departure from the promotion in 2017.
His sudden departure from the WWE was preceded by 2-3 years of creative disagreements between him and CFO$--the group that took over the duty of creating WWE Superstars’ entrance themes and musical content for WWE projects; leaving Johnston in a secondary role.
The heart of the matter
Jim Johnston recalled that early on, most shows were incredibly simple and bereft of entrance themes, however, once a few top WWE Superstars were accorded entrance music, the energy was ramped up extraordinarily. He added that the entrance music culture in the WWE grew organically, and initially the babyfaces got good entrance themes while the heels were given terrible music on purpose.
Additionally, Johnston explained that he lobbied for the heels to get good music as well—something which WWE boss Vince McMahon finally agreed to do. Johnston continued that while crafting an entrance theme for a WWE Superstar, he first looks at their appearance—for instance, if someone is light, fast and wiry or if the performer’s big and plodding—the music needs to fundamentally express the performer’s weight and power or the source of their power.
Furthermore, Johnston elucidated that The Ultimate Warrior’s theme came to fruition within five minutes, as he simply watched the latter’s entrance footage, and felt the high energy and frenetic pace. He also revealed ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin’s entrance theme was crafted from Austin’s real-life anger and frustration on not receiving adequate opportunities until that point of his career.
Johnston also spoke about The Undertaker’s theme taking five hours to come up with, as the only directive he’d received is that the music was for a big, dead guy. He gradually came up with the idea that perhaps someone near and dear in the Undertaker character’s life had died, causing the latter to gravitate towards the darkness, cemeteries and death so strongly. Resultantly, he came up with something tragic and eerie-sounding.
Johnston also praised a few WWE Superstars and thanked them for ther roles in his life. He said—
"I just want to give a shout out to a couple of people who've always been incredibly gracious, and grateful, and kind, and polite, and because I rarely get a chance to see them anymore, just on the outside chance they listen to this, but Steve Austin, just a terrific guy and I want to thank him for all of his kindnesses to me. C
hris Jericho, just a home run guy who's incredibly kind. Yeah, yeah, and Mark, The Undertaker, just an incredibly sweet man. He has always been incredibly kind, and gracious, and I'm so appreciative of that, (and) it really means a lot to me."
What’s next?
Jim Johnston is presently pursuing a career in the music industry outside the WWE. He has actively been pitching his resume in hopes of furthering his music career outside the sphere of WWE and professional wrestling.
Author’s take
Jim Johnston is a legend and will forever live on in the hearts of pro-wrestling fans, despite his departure from the business.
Johnston’s music always seemed to click with the WWE Universe, rather than some of the other musicians who’ve worked with the WWE. Here's wishing Jim Johnston the best of luck in his future pursuits.
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