WCW had a lot of iconic wrestling theme songs under the Eric Bischoff regime in the 1990s, but perhaps none were bigger than the entrance theme of the nWo.
WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff was a recent guest on The Gunz Show to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked bout the iconic nWo entrance theme. Bischoff told host Mike Gunzelman that it was a track that Turner already had in their music catalog.
“The original nWo music came out of the Turner music catalog,” Eric Bischoff revealed. “Turner had a music catalog of music that they owned the rights to, and it was like, ‘Okay, we need music for the nWo. Let’s go through that catalog and find one that works.’ That particular song just fit. Forget about the individuals and the nWo for just a moment.
“But when you think about the character of the nWo, they were antiheroes. They were cool; they had a vibe, they had a look. It’s one of the reasons that a lot of the interviews that I did with the nWo, I did then in black and white, in a grainy, film-like format. Nobody else was doing that. Everything else was colored, bright, and shiny. I wanted the nWo to be almost an underground vibe. That music just fit. It was in the catalog, it was free, and it was there.”
While the nWo theme song was free, Voodoo Child for Hollywood Hulk Hogan was another story as Bischoff revealed he spent $100,000 for the rights to that song.
“I love Jimi Hendrix, and that song, Voodoo Child, has always been one of my favorites. I thought, ‘That just had got Hulk Hogan all over it.’ I actually did the deal for the rights, cost me $100,000. I negotiated the deal with Jimi Hendrix’s sister, who was the head of the estate at that time,” Eric Bischoff said. “It cost me $100,000, and I could use up to two minutes of that music.
“Not ten seconds, not 30 seconds. Two minutes, and I could use it worldwide. Isn’t that phenomenal? More importantly than that, it just fit Hulk Hogan. So much so that even now I’ve been listening to that music the majority of my life, the vast majority of my life I’ve been a fan of it, every time I hear of that song now, I think of Hulk Hogan.”
What do you make of Eric Bischoff’s comments? Are you surprised to learn that the nWo entrance theme was already in the Turner music catalog when they started using it at the time? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit The Gunz Show with a link back to this article for the transcription.
