Let's face it, not all of us honestly like every wrestler's entrance music. I know I don't. And I don't know if anyone else does this, but I do so therefore it's awesome. Anyone who also does this should no longer be afraid to be open about it anymore. I'm talking about dubbing over wrestler's entrance themes with tracks of my own choice whenever I watch matches. I've been doing it for so long I now have several songs associated with different wrestlers as their signature songs (it's also a handy way to fill time while you're waiting for the matches to load on Youtube). So I decided to edit a little video of the entrances with a few of the songs I use dubbed over. Being chivalrous, I decided to do the divas first and of course I attempted to get in a variety of styles as opposed to the endless stream of techno and R&B WWE seem to love shackling them with. You can watch the video here and see for yourself. Apologies for the sound editing as sometimes the original theme does slip through.
AJ Lee:
We all know how mad into comic books, action movies and video games AJ is (unless of course you ignore everything the announcers say about her) so I decided to give her something out of a video game, in this case Tekken 3 from the good old 90s. The theme I chose for her belongs to Ling Xiaoyu who is perky, bubbly, energetic, slightly childish and of course a badass adorable. In fact she's almost exactly like AJ except Miss Lee isn't Chinese. This theme remains one of the more catchy and memorable tracks from the game and I think it fits AJ pretty well. And I'm in the minority that doesn't mind her "Right Now" theme.
Melina:
Now as the A-list diva, Melina wasn't going to be easily dealt with by using a video game track. But I heard this song in a certain slasher film and thought it would fit Melina remarkably well. The song is "Automatic" by the Brothers Conti and is more of a mellow dance tune. The instrumental bit right before the final chorus really gives a fitting feel to the red carpet getting rolled out and the paparazzi taking their pictures as Melina arrives. While I think this does fit her arrogant heel character more, I've used it for when she's face and it still works. Also sometimes if I time the video right the guy will shout out "yahoo" just as she does the splits on the apron.
Beth Phoenix:
Now this was a hard one to do because Beth's current theme suits her so well. I actually considered throwing Chyna's old theme out there but it didn't really seem to fit and maybe it was a bit too obvious. The song I went with is "Miss Nothing" by The Pretty Reckless. Their music tends to rub people the wrong way, which I can't understand but I found this song strangely fitting for Beth. As you can see I used a clip of her as a face in the video but I do think this fits her fine as a heel. She's a badass no matter what character she plays so I think this song helps that image and is therefore a good choice for the Divas of Doom.
Alicia Fox:
I decided to ignore her recent face turn and the fact that they've just given her Maria's old music (as well as the fact that a girl I wrestle with uses this song as her entrance music) and get creative. Maybe I'm a little racist but I considered all sorts of R&B and even rap songs for Foxy and I came pretty close to "Milkshake" and "It's Hot In Here" but what I ended up choosing was "Dirrty" by Christina Aguilera. Well in the video she's technically wrestling a little so maybe that's where I thought of adding it. I did a little bit of editing on the song itself so we get some of the opening and then go into the chorus. The lyrics do technically fit Alicia's heel persona considering she's someone who does get down and dirty from time to time.
The Bella Twins:
If I'm being honest, I was really stuck when it came to the twins. I was considering just leaving them out of the video altogether, mostly because I rarely watch their matches back online unless they are exceptionally good (which means Nikki gets more views obviously) and also because I couldn't think of a song that fit them. But thankfully the trust Tekken games didn't let me down again. This one comes from Tekken Tag Tournament and is the music that plays over Xiaoyu's stage. I'll admit I just found the song catchy and I noticed that the rhythm seemed to fit with the way the twins moved during their entrance. I didn't really put much heart into this particular dub but I think it still turned out alright. Face or heel, I think it works either way.
Eve Torres:
Eve was a tricky one to fit a theme to as well. For a while I had "Sexy Bitch" by Akon down as her theme but this was before I started respecting her as a wrestler. I mean, unless it's part of the character (like it is with Melina and Maryse) then the entrance song should be about more than just how hot she is. I did think Eve fit a club song well so I kept looking and my friend played me this mix by John O'Callaghan with Sarah Howells on vocals, called "Find Yourself". I think the lyrics could reference how Eve is trying to find herself as a diva, having made the good transition between eye candy to serious competitor. I chose to open it with the line "take your best shot/aim it at the sun" because it does reference how tough and daring Eve has been known to be. Plus I like the song and I also like Eve so that's another reason.
Kaitlyn:
I think Kaitlyn is the only diva currently in WWE who has actively outright said she dislikes her entrance theme. Alright she tweeted it by mistake, intending it to be a private message but still. I don't mind her theme but I don't think it really fits her that well. Any UK fans will immediately recognise Jet's "She's A Genius" which plays over the lotto ads and I like the lyrics which go well with Kaitlyn's character. She's a bit of a tomboy but can be girly and playful as well. Plus I think this is the first time a diva has gotten a song that has pushed forward her intelligence over her beauty or physical prowess. I do think "You Make The Rain Fall" was also a fitting theme for her but giving her that would be cheating now wouldn't it?
Kelly Kelly:
I really don't know how to start off an entry about Kelly Kelly without adding "so nice they named her twice" so we have that out of the way. Now the song here is "Raise Your Glass" by Pink which is a big step up from her obvious knockoff of "Lose My Breath" that she uses now. I remember when she won the Divas' title I actually tweeted "everyone raise your glass to Kelly Kelly, the new Divas' Champion" and that's how it stuck for me. Really Kelly is the ultimate underdog as the song says. Someone who gets the most criticism from smarks and critics alike but continues to go out there and perform anyway. It's a nice uplifting song and Kelly does make a great underdog. Maybe the smarks would cheer for her as well if she came out to this song?
Maryse:
Now I'm sure everyone has thought at least once of giving Maryse Willow Smith's ear worm "Whip My Hair" and I'll admit I did too but I didn't want to submit internet fans and hypothetical wrestling crowd to that parasite that enters your mind and just won't leave. Instead I went with a pleasant bit of irony - it's actually S Club 7 singing this song. Of course listening to the lyrics might confuse you as well since the song, titled "Hey Kitty Kitty" has the lines "Hey kitty kitty, shame on you/how do you get away with the things you do/so good at being bad, you blow my mind/hey kitty kitty, you're so fine". That's right, S Club sang a song that was basically sex for the PG generation. What better way to slip something like that past the radar than to give it to a diva who's pretty much all about sex and if this were the Attitude Era, there'd be a lot less left to the imagination.
Maxine:
The newest addition to the roster got this song almost straight away. I was dubbing the NXT girls as well for a while and I randomly decided to give Maxine this song which, now that she's got a storyline, seems to be almost a perfect fit. The song is "Some Girls" by Rachel Stevens and talks about a woman who does what she has to do in order to become a star. In this case it's oral sex but that isn't really outright stated in the song. Maxine did have to go through a lot on NXT, losing all her matches, having that one trainwreck with Kaitlyn, getting oneupped by Hornswoggle and getting eliminated second. She has however risen above that and become a lot more polished in the ring, as you can see on NXT these days. And no, I don't think Maxine or any of the divas slept their way to the top. If they were, they'd be getting a lot more than what they're given already.
Michelle McCool:
Now this was another toughie. I couldn't really take Michelle seriously as the big badass aggressive heel when she came out with "Not Enough For Me" playing though it did fit her LayCool gimmick a lot better. This song I chose was specifically for Michelle's initial heel persona when she first turned. Here she was serious and aggressive with no hint of comedy or silliness, not to mention full of herself. The song title is "Do You Love Yourself" and is by The Glitteratti. I think the title sums it all up and Michelle's cocky full of herself character would definitely proudly strut out to someone blaring out "do you love yourself". I'm sure even her haters will admit that the song is rather fitting for that particular character. Don't worry, LayCool fans, I have come up with a dub especially for that gimmick as well.
Natalya:
Now this wasn't as hard to pick as you might expect. Natalya is a diva who doesn't really need an actual song with lyrics to describe herself. All she needs is something memorable and ungeneric which I think I've got down. Surprise surprise, it's another Tekken track, this time from Tekken 5 and titled "Acid Rain". I couldn't get over how well it went with Natalya's entrance, especially with how she energetically ran out and jogged to the ring. Naturally this is still when she was a face but really as a heel she comes out to Beth's music all the time anyway. There's not much else I can say about the track except it would make a great choice for some new wrestler's entrance music but for now you can consider it Nattie's backup A.
Rosa Mendes:
I was seriously considering leaving Rosa off the list since WWE doesn't do anything with her at all and any entrance theme she has would rarely be used. Anyway I eventually decided to leave her in and the song came to me almost straight away. In case anyone can't recognise it, it's "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira. Obviously playing off Rosa's Latina ethnicity I went with a song that had a catchy salsa beat to it and is much more memorable than the silly ditty she has now. Since Rosa's strength lies in her good looks and charisma, a song about her looks is quite fitting. In fact I'd love to see Rosa dancing fully to "Hips Don't Lie" and I'd take that over watching her wrestle.
Tamina:
Here's another one I considered leaving off the list. Mostly because, like Rosa, I find her bland and rather clumsy in the ring so there isn't a lot of replay value in most of her matches. As you can probably tell, I took the least amount of effort required for this particular dub and so I gave her another wrestler's old theme music. Yes I suppose it is technically cheating but maybe people won't recognise it at first. The wrestler in question is former diva Jazz who used this theme for most of her 2002 run and for a couple of appearances in 2003 before switching to the jazz instrumental piece we are all familiar with. Tamina does remind me of Jazz, though she lacks the in-ring talent and so this theme is fitting for a tough powerhouse like her.
Gail Kim:
Now this might be cheating as well but really after searching through countless songs and tracks, going through anything on the Tekken soundtrack that might be usable, I couldn't pick anything else. The fact is that Gail is the only diva to actually have the perfect entrance music. In fact I actually took notice of her when she was first in WWE purely for her entrance music. The track itself is called "International Woman" and the vocals are by Dara Shindler. It originally fit in with her Matrix-inspired gimmick and it always fit her much better as a face than a heel and it was miles more pleasing on the ears than the generic fluff she got when she returned. Though sadly her TNA theme was even worse.
Layla:
Now it seems that since Layla technically lost her own music and got Michelle's by default (and it looks like she's going to keep using it). I figured that for the dub, why not do things the other way round? This time it's Layla's default theme that will serve as the LayCool music as well as her original singles theme. The song in question is "Scandalous" by Mis-Teeq and I thought it would fit Layla since she herself is British and the song comes from the British R&B scene from the early 2000s. The lyrics do actually fit Layla pretty well and it does seem like a little feminist song that could go with a strong duo like LayCool. I wasn't going to get completely into their Mean Girls characters and use some preppy pop song so this one was good enough for me.
So there you have all the most recent divas with brand new entrance themes. Try it out for yourself next time you're on Youtube and let me know if you find anything you think would be more fitting. That won't be all for my dubbing exploits as I do plan to get the Superstars covered as well, though I don't think I'll get through all of them. I might even delve into the past eras of WWE and give some older Superstars a try. Who knows, I might even throw the TNA people a bone as well.
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