10 WWE Stars Who Gambled On A New Entrance Theme

Steve Austin first experimented with a different entrance theme, in 2000, as a means of refreshing his babyface act ahead of his huge return from injury. It didn't ruin his character, or anything, but why tinker with crowd-popping perfection?

The shattering glass, the crunching, escalating metal riff: it was a stunning, simple formula designed to derange the senses of arena crowds, and the vocal stylings of Disturbed's David Draiman sought to add yet more intensity to the new arrangement. But it sounded like David was in the midst of taking a particularly challenging sh*t, which added a deeply ill-advised comedy element to it.

A year later, with Austin struggling in a deeply ill-advised heel role, he experimented further.

It was understandable, insofar as incomprehensible developments go; he needed to repel and not pop crowds, and so he slowed everything down to a droning chug. It was menacing and in-character and all, but it was also insane in how it contrived to make Steve Austin - Stone Cld Steve F*cking Austin - generic.

Acknowledging the failed experiment, Austin's Alliance theme ramped up the pace and removed the familiarity, the net result of which was total failure: it was rapid, babyface fare penned for a heel, and it reflected all too accurately Austin's complete lack of a coherent identity.