Ranking WWE's 5 Best New Theme Songs of 2016

It has been a great year for WWE in a lot of ways. It’s fair to say that the new entrance themes that debuted this year have certainly done their part in making 2016 feel special.

Entrance music is so important in terms of adding to the aura of a WWE superstars. When you think of a guy like The Undertaker, his song comes to mind quickly because we’ve heard it so many times over the last 26 years. That infamous gong sound leading to the organ music is representative of The Undertaker mystique so well. When he entered to a Limp Bizkit track during his biker years it just didn’t have the same feel.

A lot of WWE entrance songs were done by composer Jim Johnston, who was with the company in the 1980s and into the 2000s. In the last few years, WWE sought the help of others to compose their unique tracks.

All of the new tracks in WWE are done by a group called CFO$ Official. Earlier this year, WWE posted a video with the two guys that are part of the group. They spoke about how they try to mix in different sounds for different performers. It’s obvious with the new songs we have heard this year that they are excellent at their jobs.

For the purposes of this column, the only rule I have is that the song had to have debuted on WWE’s main roster or NXT in 2016. If the song was last year then it doesn’t count. Simple, right? Let’s see who made the list for the top five best new WWE theme songs of 2016.

5. No Way Jose

Song Title: No Way

It’s important for a song to fit a character and in this case, the song fits the wrestler perfectly. No Way Jose is an eccentric guy with a unique look thanks to his height and the afro he sports on the way to the ring.

The song is pretty basic because it’s just the singers saying “No Way Jose” the whole time, yet the beat of the song is what gets you. It’s hard not to hear that and not get a little bit excited.

At the last NXT Takeover event in Brooklyn, Jose’s entrance saw him lead members of the audience in a conga line as he made his way to the ring. The entire arena was chanting “No Way Jose” for a guy that isn’t close to being a main event performer and he’s also still very new to WWE, yet the song is so easy to like that it works for him.

4. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson

Song Title: Omen In The Sky

The songs of a performer should be in sync with the way that performer acts. In the case of Gallows & Anderson, they are both southern guys that wrestle a brawling style. That’s why it makes sense that they have a hard rock song with a bit of a country feel to it.

Check out the lyrics of the first verse:

It fits their character, right? They are a tag team that works well together to beat people up, so the part about being there to conquer and divide fits their persona.

It’s not a fast paced song or something that everybody is going to like, but the importance is on the characters. It fits what these guys are about. That’s why I like it.

3. AJ Styles

Song Title: Phenomenal

The first time we heard this song was at the 2016 Royal Rumble when AJ Styles was a surprise entrant. It was a new song for a familiar face and the voice of the song sounded familiar too.

Throughout the song, there’s a line that is mentioned over and over: “No, they don’t want none.” Often times at WWE signs you’ll see fans holding “They Don’t Want None” sign while Styles has put the phrase on his gear as well.

The idea behind that is that the person in the ring will want nothing to do with Styles because he’s such a good performer. Now that he’s the WWE Champion as well as the guy that is arguably WWE’s wrestler of the year, the statement holds true.

When people first heard the song, they thought that rapper DMX was spouting lyrics for it and that it also closely resembled his “Ain’t No Sunshine” song. He didn’t have a part with it although it definitely sounds like him.

In most years, this may the be number one new song because it’s great, but there are two other tracks I like more.

2. Bobby Roode

Song Title: Glorious Domination

The lyrics to this song are pretty simple: “GLORIOUS! Now I won’t give in, I won’t give in ‘till I’m victorious. And I will defend, I will defend.”

It’s that “Glorious” part that really sticks out. That’s a word that you may not use in your everyday life, but it means something is pretty special and when you hear that start of the song with that word, people just hyped up.

Bobby Roode doesn’t even really have a gimmick in NXT other than a guy with a spectacular entrance in part because the song is so awesome.

His entrance at NXT Takeover Brooklyn was incredible. They really built it up to be something special by having him descend from high above and the crowd was chanting along with the whole song.

As good as that was, they might be able to top it at NXT Takeover Canada in Toronto since he’s a hometown hero at that show. I’m probably going to be there and I’m very much looking forward to that.

1. Shinsuke Nakamura

Song Title: The Rising Sun

Who knew that a song that was mostly a bunch of violins playing would be the coolest of this year and maybe of all time?

There’s just something about this song that absolutely fits the unique persona of Shinsuke Nakamura, who is a professional wrestler unlike anybody we have seen before. The way he walks, makes those unique facial expressions and his poses set him apart from everybody else in WWE.

The reason it works so well is because it is unlike any other song in WWE whether we’re talking about stuff from the past or the current product. Most WWE theme songs have generic sounding rock tracks. A lot of them don’t have lyrics like this song, yet none of them have the same kind of vibe that Nakamura’s song does.

Once again, WWE hit a homerun with the entrance of Nakamura at Takeover Brooklyn. The whole crowd was singing along with violinist Lee England. Then there was that special part where Nakamura does the pose against the ropes and the crowd loses their mind as if they haven’t seen that many times before. It just works for him.

It’s going to be interesting to see if the crowds on Raw or Smackdown are as into this song as much as the NXT crowd. I would guess that they are and if they hum along with the whole track like the NXT crowd it’s going to show how popular Nakamura is as well.

For newer WWE performers, this is the best example of a song helping the talent get over as a bigger star. There’s more to wrestling than just being great in the ring, which Nakamura is. You need that extra something to reach superstardom. Thanks to this song, Nakamura is already there.

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