10 Totally Dumb Booking Tropes Wrestling Is OBSESSED With

5. The Entrance Music Cue

Finn Balor
WWE.com

So what happens here?

Does the wrestler ask the sound technician to hit their music before they hit the ring? If the sound technician for whatever reason is slow to react, does the wrestler wait to hear their sting, even if their mate is getting their brains plastered onto the canvas?

Or, does the sound technician see the wrestler, full of fury and ready to go to war, and cue up their theme? And is the wrestler so taken by their music that they register the crowd reaction momentarily before saving the day?

These are facetious, rhetorical questions, obviously. Promoters do the entrance theme-backed run-in spot because it almost always gets a pop.

It doesn't matter that the contrivance ruins suspension of disbelief and makes the live broadcast feel like a staged show. The pop is apparently more important than making the show feel urgent and believable. AEW barely did this early in its run, but succumbed to the temptation more often than not within months.

Wrestling as a thing you're meant to buy often collides with the reality that it is a big, daft spectacle - but can't this sort of thing, admittedly a very cool moment, be reserved for truly special occasions?

Nobody would ever want to do away with that December '98 Austin Pop - but nobody wants wrestling to feel like an entirely staged, fake-feeling production, either.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!