The wrestling-metal connection continued to thrive at WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles, Califonria over the weekend, as the likes of Slayer, Motionless In White, Alter Bridge, Downstait and Turnstile provided the soundtrack to some of the biggest moments of the weekend branded the 'showcase of the immortals'.
This massive weekend in Los Angeles, continued a a mutually beneficial tradition for superstars of both entertainment forms. Below is a breakdown of the biggest moments from a few big nights for heavy music in the world of professional wrestling.
Motionless In White Provide The Victory Song For Rhea Ripley's Smackdown Women's Championship Win
When South Australian pro-wrestling phenomenon Rhea Ripley beat Charlotte Flair in an instant classic on night one of WrestleMania 39 it was the sound of her favourite band, Motionless In White's Demon In Your Dreams that could be heard blasting out of the speakers as the 26-year-old force held the title over her head, to the adulation of the over 80k fans inside of the SoFi Stadium. What a moment for Rhea Ripley, her Judgement Day faction, pro-wrestling in Australia and Motionless In White.
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Slayer and Alter Bridge Soundtrack Edge's Epic Entrance For His Hell In A Cell Match With Finn Balor
Heading into his grudge match with Judgement Day faction member Finn Balor, WWE Hall Of Famer, Edge hinted that he'd be embracing the darker side of his storied character to match up with the intensity of Finn Balor's 'demon' persona. From the moment the lights dimmed and the sound of Slayer's South Of Heaven hit and crystal skull adorned Edge rose up from underneath the stage, revealing a new variation of his 'Brood' persona, those hints became a reality, with Edge turning back the clock to a time when he succumbed to the more sinister side of his being. The fact the title of the song is also the name of Judgement Day faction member Damien Priest's signature move and the term "judgement day" appears in the lyrics is yet another example of how good storytelling in pro-wrestling, rewards you for paying attention to the little things. Bonus points for how the music changed to Alter Bridge's Metalingus, once Edge slipped out of the entrance attire and into something more practical for wrestling purposes, because as far as we're concerned, why have one banger when you can have two? Edge went on to defeat the demon in a hardcore match worthy of ending their feud, giving us all the chance to sing Metalingus again.
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Cody Rhodes Walks Into The Main Event of WrestleMania 39 To The Sound of Downstait
When the son of the 'son of a plumber' Dusty Rhodes, walked out for the main event of night two of WrestleMania he did so with his longtime theme Kingdom by Downstait resonating around the arena. It was an epic entrance befitting of a man trying to secure the one championship his storied family has never held but always desired. While he ultimately fell short of that goal, he put in a hell of a showing and also provided one of the loudest crowd singalongs of night two, when 82-thousand people sang the words of Kingdom at the top of their voices.
P.O.D's classic Rey Mysterio Theme 'Booyaka 619' Blasts As He Gets Hyped To Fight His Disrespectful Son Dom
Lucha legend Rey Mysterio Jr had a momentous WrestleMania 39 weekend, being inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame and beating his real-life son, Judgement Day member, Dominik in a wild ending to a family feud that will be spoken about for decades by fans and for a lifetime by his family. He also got to be involved in one of the best WrestleMania entrances in years, as he arrived in a low-rider with the 'Doggfather of WrestleMania' Snoop Dogg with Nothin' But A G Thang pumping, then paid tribute to his departed friend, wrestling legend Eddie Guerrero via his iconic theme Viva La Raza before running down the ramp to his iconic theme P.O.D's Booyaka 619. The way the crowd screamed "booyaka, booyaka 619!" at the top of their voices as he slid into the ring told you that this was about to be a WrestleMania moment, and so it proved. When Rey finally outlasted Dom with a little assist from none other than Grammy Award-winning artist Bad Bunny, it was P.O.D that again provided a celebration.
Turnstile's Blackout Used As The Theme For NXT Stand And Deliver
Turnstile are everywhere these days, and on WrestleMania 39 weekend, they teamed up with WWE's NXT brand, providing Blackout as the theme song for their Stand And Deliver event. This continues a relationship between Turnstile and NXT that dates back to 2016. Someone at WWE HQ is a massive Turnstile fan, and why wouldn't you be? Blackout appears on their acclaimed album Glow On which was released via Roadrunner Records in 2021 when it was one of our albums of the year.
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Honourable mentions
Lita enters to Boy Hits Car's LoveFuryPassionEnergy, Seth Rollins's rather metal theme song WWE Visionary, Finn Balor's epic 'demon' entrance to his rather symphonic metal leaning Catch Your Breath, Kevin Owens walking out to the metalcore stomp Fight and of course, that riff that announces Brock Lesnar's arrival. All in all, a lot of heavy music and metal cranked through massive speakers. What's not to love?
If all of this has you curious about the connection between metal and wrestling, then check out our interview with Australian wrestling legend 'The Mad Bastard' KrackerJak who goes deep with us on the topic.
Listen to Motionless In White now
