Ranking Every WWE Opening Signature From Worst To Best
"Yes Sir, we promised you a great main event this evening..."
Like cigarettes, alcohol and other addictions likely to drain your wallet dry, professional wrestling is at its most powerful amongst the young.
To those at their most open-minded, impressionable and naive, the technicolour dreamscape that is Sports Entertainment stands the best chance of embedding itself so tightly in psyches that nothing - no angle, match nor hated performer - stands a chance of unspooling it.
Vince McMahon's quest for his company to be the byword for wrestling - and, subversively, not remotely defined by it - resulted in most young fans catching wind of his version of it first. The life of a WWE fan is often mirrored by the life of WWE with the initial buzz of a Hogan, Hart, Austin, Rock, Cena or Reigns as much to do with the simplest of childlike indulgence as anything the about the character of choice.
First impressions count for much, which is why WWE's broadcasts have almost always kicked off with a signiture introduction. 'WWE Universe" may be a relatively new phrase, but the ideology existed from the moment Vince McMahon Jnr wrestled control of the family business away from his father.
These brief interludes tell you nothing and yet give you everything. The brand reigns strongest of all, regardless of the roster. You're watching WWE. You always were, and you always will. Then, now, forever...
11. ATTITUDE / ENTERTAINMENT
Introduced as WWE lost its last letter and mainstream appeal over several dispiriting months, the first "WWE" intro seemed designed to reflect the dominance the brand had established in the wake of WCW and ECW's demise.
Instead, it highlighted a troubling transference of eras and the identity crisis at large. "ATTITUDE" was followed by "ENTERTAINMENT" on screen in a visual metaphor for the organisation trying but failing to move on from a more prosperous past.