10 Most Epic Wrestling Entrance Themes You May Not Have Heard
7. TAKA Michinoku - Yamato Part 4 New Edit
WWE has the market cornered on entrance themes, we've discussed that. Perhaps the only way of beating them at their own game is liberally borrowing a gem from their library and sprinkling a f*ck-tonne of F words over the top of it, much like TAKA Michinoku has done in Japan in recent years.
There is much to admire about its opening sting. The jukebox coin drop is why-did-nobody-think-of-it-before perfect - but requires an awesome theme to back up the balls-out bluster. TAKA subsequently lobs out the fruit as well as the two veg with a spoken word segment in which he confirms that "TAKA is coming...motherf*cker." In brilliantly accented English, he also threatens to "kick you a**."
And thus begins the familiar clipped shamisen, which, appropriately enough for a number that betters the original by utterly bludgeoning it, turns the old transitional distorted guitar riff up to 11. Up to 11 also go the hilarious spoken word interludes. "Hey you, a**hole. Listen to me. You know my name, do you know who I am? My f*cking name is TAKA Michinoku!"
What's extraordinary about the theme is that TAKA portrays himself as this super-powerful specimen when in fact, the only physical change he has undergone since leaving the WWF is the creaking emergence of swelling dad bod.
That's not a blight on the man; a slight Japanese performer must also have a f*ck-tonne of talent to stay relevant in the western mainstream for two decades.