WWE Theme Showdown: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

By Paulo Camacho

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This time around, let’s try something a little different. Let’s talk about something we haven’t touched on for awhile, and something that, quite frankly, you really wouldn’t think of when we talk about music:

Let’s talk professional wrestling.

Whenever it is that you read this, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) will have already put on its marquee event for the year, Wrestlemania XXXIV. It should prove to be a pop culture spectacle in the Big Easy, and will no doubt be the talk of professional wrestling in the coming days, no matter the results. And whether it’s the compelling storylines, the eye-popping acrobatics, or the star power of the WWE Superstars, themselves, fans from all over the world will have tuned in on Sunday for the likely 6-hour extravaganza.

While there will be many things to see during the historic broadcast — from the first-ever Wrestlemania Women’s Battle Royale to former MMA superstar Ronda Rousey’s WWE debut with Kurt Angle vs. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon — the worldwide audience, and especially the wrestling aficionados, will be waiting with bated breath to watch the highly-anticipated WWE Championship match between incumbent champion A.J. Styles and challenger Shinsuke Nakamura.

The wrestling world will likely already be familiar with both WWE superstars’ already-legendary careers before joining the company in 2016. The two squared off in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s version of Wrestlemania — Wrestle Kingdom 10 — before joining the WWE, in a match that many considered an instant classic, and a 2015 Match of the Year candidate.

The anticipation for wrestling fans for these two to square off had been building since their respective debuts two years ago. And, with their clash at the Mercedes Superdome deemed “The Dream Match” for the company’s most prestigious title, Styles vs. Nakamura will hopefully have lived up to the astronomical hype.

With that said, the two had not shared the same WWE ring in a one-on-one showdown until Sunday. However, they have shared one thing that many WWE fans can agree on:

Unique, iconic theme songs.

We have covered the importance of the wrestling theme song to a wrestler, their in-ring persona, and their connection with the fans in an earlier piece, but it bears repeating here: it is a fundamental part of the professional wrestling experience, and it can shape the character of each wrestler, in the eyes of the fans.

This was no different for A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura, when each debuted in the WWE — the former, as the third entrant in the 2016 Royal Rumble:

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And the latter in his NXT Takeover: Dallas match against Sami Zayn:

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Each of them have markedly different themes, that match their characters rather accurately. Take Styles’ theme, entitled “Phenomenal” (an obvious reference to his “Phenomenal One” nickname):

It is a perfect blend of Country and Hip-Hop — a subgenre that is becoming increasingly popular in the mainstream, and one that Styles, himself, enjoys. For the 40-year-old devout Christian from Jacksonville, North Carolina, it just so happened to — in his words — “fit [him] like a glove.” You can certainly hear it in the musical choices CFO$ makes within the song.

For example, “Phenomenal” begins with a recognizable pipe organ drone, the beat of a tambourine, and what can be described as a chorus of “Yup’s” — that is undeniably reminiscent of a Southern church choir at Sunday mass. However, while the song plays the same pipe organ drone through its duration, it still progresses with a distinctively aggressive tone, representing the violent nature of the wrestling profession for which he has participated since 1998. You can even hear this “country rap” aggression in the song’s lyrics:

We some southern boys

With the farmer’s strength;

Ain’t nobody man enough to feel the pain

And you could be next —

You better give respect,

Cause ain’t nobody breaking this redneck

Then there is Nakamura’s theme, entitled “The Rising Sun”:

It has many traditionally Far Eastern characteristics, and for good reason: according to the song’s writers, the composer duo known as CFO$, the underlying sound of Nakamura’s theme was inspired by old Japanese video game music. But it was Nakamura’s evolving wrestling persona through the years — one that is considered “flamboyant, chaotic, but graceful”, according to CFO$ — that went a long way to informing his final WWE theme.

You can hear it in the dynamic string solo when the theme begins — the nimble aggressiveness of those opening notes set the tone for the rest of the song. As the theme builds (and repeats), you can definitely hear the Japanese video game influences — as if it was taken right out of a “Final Fantasy” game.

However, it is the violins that really make the theme unique. WWE fans know the theme’s memorable violin melody (originally played by New York City-based violinist Earl Maneein) very well, as they sing along with it every time Nakamura’s theme is played.

The violin melody is a glorious blend of beauty, culture, strength, aggressiveness and chaos — like a masterpiece being painted by an exquisite madman. Equal parts energetic, elegant and enigmatic, the violins are the lifeblood of the entire song. And, as “90 percent” of what makes Nakamura so uniquely beloved in the WWE, his theme will likely go down as one of the greats in company history.