Billy Corgan‘s roots are in music, but the NWA owner says he’s not a big fan of entrance themes in pro wrestling.
During an appearance on My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox, Billy Corgan talked about how entrance music has been an important part of modern wrestling’s fabric but it’s not something he’s a fan of overall.
“I’m a music guy, but I’m not a big music entrance fan guy. You know, Matt Cardona of all people, he comes at me for not having any entrance music on Powerrr, which is kind of funny, you know what I mean? I think there was even one promo where he pulled out his phone and he played his own entrance theme. You know, it’s not that I don’t like it. I get it, and I get how it’s become part of the modern form. And I’m not sentimental for a form without it,” Corgan said. “I’m just not the biggest fan.
“I was honestly a bigger fan of the way PRIDE, if you remember PRIDE, which was before the lockdown, was a Japanese MMA, they used to use really weird music, almost like trip-hop tracks and stuff like that. I would like to see more creativity on the music side, and I think that’s where I kinda shirk at it. Because most wrestling themes are very, very, from a music point of view, and I’m a snob in music and I have a right to be,” Corgan explained, “they tend to be B and C level music. We do some good stuff, but at the end of the day, I would like to see more diversity. But you know, wrestling fans are used to their jarhead metal riff, here comes the heel, you know what I mean?”
Billy Corgan then explained that he has been approached by WWE to license some of his songs, but those talks were never fruitful. He also spoke about Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Jeff Schroeder’s work on music for wrestling events, one of which was the theme song for NWA’s ‘When Our Shadows Fall’ event in June 2021.
“I did talk to WWE about it at some point. That did go nowhere. I think it was a mid-level staffer that when they booted it up, it went nowhere. I did some stuff for TNA, but as far as doing a wrestling theme dedicated, no. Lately I’ve been working with Jeff Schroeder, who’s been the guitar player for the Pumpkins for over 15 years. And Jeff’s done some really cool themes for the NWA, I really like those, kinda almost like 80s, I don’t know what it is, but it’s kind of cool,” Corgan said.
“But I’ve tried to license some 80s songs that I liked, and people just quote astronomical figures. If I told you some of the figures I’ve been quoted for some songs that I’ve asked for behind the scenes, your head would explode,” he added. “It’s just unbelievable what people want for wrestling.”
Billy Corgan then noted that Dokken’s “Into The Fire” (the NWA Powerrr theme song) was popular and he tried to use other similar songs, but some of the licensing fees were “almost like half our annual budget for one song.”
Read More: NWA Crockett Cup Night Two Results (3/20/22): Matt Cardona vs. Nick Aldis, Tournament Concludes
If you use this transcript, credit WrestleZone and link back to this post.
