10 Iconic Wrestling Themes You Never Knew Were Recycled

Professional wrestling is a character-driven enterprise, and the establishment of a wrestler’s character is so important that it can't wait for him to actually get in the ring. From the moment he steps through the curtain, his entrance theme should tell you all you need to know about him. The best matched wrestlers and themes can bring an entire arena to their feet with only a few notes, and form the auditory component of moments frozen in the collective memory of wrestling fans. Despite this, many iconic themes made it to their stars secondhand.

When you think about it, it's not too surprising that there would be some reused music here and there. After all, WWE has featured hundreds of characters over the years, and some of the company's long-term competitors find themselves with new music to accompany new career directions or alignment changes. Not to mention that the vast majority of WWE's theme tunes have been composed by a single man.

Jim Johnston, a harried studio musician, has written almost every theme song since the first WrestleMania. When Jim gets a call from Vince McMahon at 3 AM saying, "I need a fourth theme song for Cesaro, the yodeling thing isn't panning out", it's no surprise that he'll dip into his extensive back catalog of work for, ahem, inspiration. Still, you'll be surprised that even some of the most recognizable themes of all time weren't written for the stars they're most associated with.

Maria Kanellis wound up being something of a success story in  WWE, starting out as a Diva Search castoff and eventually becoming one of the company's bigger female stars. She never won a championship, but she received the coveted 2000-2008 Playboy covergirl push and got her share of big moments, including a memorable WrestleMania pairing with Snoop Dogg. Part of her appeal was her extremely catchy theme tune. Unlike most of her contemporaries, it wasn't a generic R & B jam, but rather an energetic pop punk number called "Legs Like That". Curious, considering that while Ms. Kanellis was undoubtedly a lovely young lady, she did not sport particularly notable legs.

In fact, the song was originally intended for the notoriously statuesque Stacy Keibler, who made her name on her 42" gams. Stacy had used a Kid Rock cover of the ZZ Top song "Legs" during her time in WWE, and this new song was intended to replace it. Before that could happen, however, Stacy found mainstream success on Dancing With the Stars and beat a hasty retreat from the wrestling world. So it was that Maria got her theme song, and Stacy Keibler became a supermarket tabloid fixture.