Since wrestlers began coming to the ring with their own theme songs, music and wrestling have been a long-term tag team. Former WWE/F composer Jim Johnston’s themes are as recognizable as any classic song by established artists. The Legion of Doom, The Ultimate Warrior, Stone Cold Steve Austin: just reading these names and the sound of glass shattering or Hawk saying “What a rush” run through your head as if it were an entrance ramp followed by their iconic themes.

As the business evolved, wrestling companies enlisted contemporary artists to compose wrestler themes. The forward-thinking ECW used real songs by bands like White Zombie, though to avoid rights issues, had bands like Kilgore cover Pantera’s “Walk” for Rob Van Dam’s entrance theme while “Enter Sandman”  was covered by Lemmy and Zebrahead for the beer-guzzling, chain-smoking Sandman. During the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression eras, the WWE took a heavier direction as well, enlisting bands like Motorhead, Drowning Pool and Alter Bridge to come up with Superstar entrance themes. Down south in WCW, Megadeth’s “Crush ‘Em” and Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy” were briefly used for Goldberg and Sting’s entrance themes and let’s not forget about live performances: KISS and Megadeth performed on Monday Nitro while Fear Factory played as a match was underway during WCW’s Beach Brawl in 1999.

In the current era of wrestling, rock and metal bands are still making their presence known in the wrestling world, with bands like Code Orange doing Bray Wyatt’s theme while themes for individual Premium Live Events were provided by artists like Slipknot and Poppy.

But what about bands that write songs about wrestling or have personas related to wrestling? Do a quick search of goregrind bands and you’ll see plenty of musicians adopting a lucha libre look, complete with masks. Classic GWAR concerts had a makeshift wrestling ring constructed on stage as the band fought against their adversaries.

Still, these two examples use elements of wrestling in a surface-level way – this is a list devoted to bands who have adopted a full-on wrestling persona with their presentation – musically, lyrically, and appearance-wise, with some of them integrating wrestling elements into their live show.

Eat the Turnbuckle

Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, and sometimes of brothers beating the hell out of each other in an ECW ring. Eat the Turnbuckle brought the feeling of inevitable violence akin to being present at a Big Japan Wrestling deathmatch event to concertgoers during their tenure, with a myriad of wrestling stunts being a part of their live show. In 2023, a documentary was released about the band: Stabbed in the Face: The Rise and Fall of the World’s Most Violent Band. After checking that out, search for guitarist Shlak performing in ultra-violent deathmatches, a favorite being one against Shane Mercer in a backyard deathmatch in which both wrestlers use and demolish a car in the proceedings.

WrestleManiacs

“The kings of Catch’n’Roll, the band of a thousand themes, they put the rocket fuel in your spaceship and the Jack in your Coke. The headliner, the band of the hour, too sweet to be sour, always young, strong and healthy, the whole F’N Rock show, the best band there is, there was and there ever will be, and that’s the bottom line ’cause the WrestleManiacs said so!”

If you can pinpoint each wrestling reference in WrestleManiacs’ self-introduction, then like their song says, wrestling may be “Still Real To Us”…dammit. This extremely catchy German thrash/crossover band don lucha masks and preach unadulterated love for sports entertainment with lyrics like “OH MY GOD. Bah gawd almighty. Death-defying, suicidal. HOLY SHIT. It‘s fucking real. Ring the bell, it‘s time to kill.”

Atomic Drop

The atomic drop is one of those wrestling moves that likely caused a lot of bruised tailbones during recess time. When considering the name, you’d think a deathcore or slam band would take the title. However, Atomic Drop is actually a one-man blackened thrash project by one Lucas “Bad News” Taylor hailing from Virginia Beach. Mid-Card Purgatory is anything but mid-card, with songs like “The Road Warriors” and “Harley Race” creating a sample-laden, mid-’80s house show atmosphere, with the former track being something I could see Animal and Hawk walking out to after a few extra lines in the back.

Crisis Benoit

Chris Benoit is an easy go-to if you want to stir up an atmosphere of morbid humor with your musical project. Based out of Italy, the death metal/grindcore band Crisis Benoit take influence from wrestling and some classic domestic horror such as Lucio Fulci films with songs like “Night of the Living Deathmatches.” The band follow the trend of wearing luchador masks while performing, only Crisis Benoit take more inspiration from La Parka than Rey Mysterio, being a leather wearing, skeletal-faced stable that look and sound imposing.

Tongan Death Grip

Haku, or Meng, is known as one of the toughest and intimidating wrestlers in history, with stories of him bordering on legend such as an incident where he popped fellow wrestler Jesse Barr’s eye out of his socket. So, to name your band after the man’s finishing move is indeed a good strategy and will ensure that if Haku attends your concert, he won’t kill you. Out of Illinois, Tongan Death Grip perform thrash metal and features members Ultimo Dark, Lexa Luger and Mike Jushin Thunder Driver. The band make reference to classic Japanese wrestler The Great Muta in The Muta Scale and the always outspoken Jim Cornette on Corny. Send a copy over to Vince Russo if you’re feeling cheeky.

Matsunaga Was Right

“Mr. Danger” Mitsuhiro Matsunaga is known as a demigod in deathmatch wrestling circles. His famed matches include the Barbed Wire Double Hell Deathmatch, the Barbwire Caribbean Glass Double Hell Deathmatch and perhaps most infamous, the Yokohama Amazon River Piranha Deathmatch. Look up a match on YouTube and fire up Twenty Strands of Barbed Wire followed by Born in Wire by this Ohio-based grind band to play in the background for an evening of ultraviolence.

Shining Wizard

Another band showing respect to The Great Muta (the Shining Wizard being his invention), Shining Wizard hail from Tampa Florida and bring a grinding, blood soaked, strong style tribute to a myriad of wrestlers with their Tournament of Death EP. Hana Kimura, Scott Hall, Dr. Death Steve Williams, Brodie Lee, The Big Bossman, and New Jack are referenced in the EP, which is recommended for fans of Birdflesh, Ghoul and fellow marks Eat the Turnbuckle.

CACOFONÍA

If you wanted to know how it feels to take a hurricanrana through a flaming table, Mexico City’s CACOFONÍA have you covered. The grindcore band emerged in 1988, being one of the old school acts who dared to combine metal and wrestling to make a potent power trip. Oh No! Please Not Again! is 25 brutal songs in 31 minutes – just imagine 25 deathmatches in that amount of time and you get the CACOFONÍA experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtAt5OcnnDQ

PPTA

“Bleeding for a Living” is a motto suited for deathmatch wrestlers and also bands like PPTA. The North Holland-based thrash band break more 2X4s than Hacksaw Jim Duggan with their live wrestling theatrics. During 2016’s edition of the Obscene Extreme Festival, the band let the grind fans have a taste of real theatrical violence when they took part in the Wrestling Mania showcase at the festival, which did feature live hardcore wrestling aside from music by PPTA and Eat the Turnbuckle.

Off the Top Rope

“OH, HELL YEAH. LET’S DRINK SOME BEERS AND WATCH ROYAL RUMBLE.” Sounds good to me. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan’s Off the Top Rope bring some sleazy wrestle rock to the squared circle with songs that range from nostalgic (“WCW vs NWO”) to darkly humored (“Benoit”). The straightforward punkish song structures Off the Top Rope utilize are as easy to listen to as popping in a SummerSlam 94 tape to relive The Undertaker vs The Underfaker.

VonErichs

“Whatcha gonna do when the Hulkster, the Macho Man, and the power of booger sugar run wild on you?” asks Hogan in the sample at the start of VonErichs’ “Cocaine.” Named after the ill-fated wrestling family, VonErichs tackle some wrestling in-jokes with a nasally, punk attitude. Their First Blood Match album is full of must-listen tracks for those who can’t get enough of the dark side of the ring such as “Ring Rat” and “Kamala Ate My Baby.”

Vaderbomb

Featuring an illustration of the infamous incident in which Vader had his eye popped out of his socket by Stan Hansen for an album cover, Vaderbomb bring a hardcore suplex with It’s Time. It’s not just Big Van Vader the Louisville, Kentucky-based band jam about though, with songs about the Junkyard Dog, Dingo Warrior and The Road Warriors. Their subsequent albums feature La Parka, Ox Baker and the infamous King of the Road matches on their covers. Vaderbomb – a band that sounds tough while praising the toughness of classic sports entertainers.

Powerbomb

From Vaderbomb to Powerbomb. But, who is performing it? Well, if going by Powerbomb’s songs, Sycho Sid is the master of the move. The Toronto-based band do the devastating maneuver justice, with hard-hitting hardcore tracks suitable for dancing but if you’re in a Powerbomb pit, why not try a suplex or back body drop? Their latest album, No Mercy, features references to modern wrestlers such as “American Nightmare” and “One Winged Angel.”

Gisiri

In a basement club in Tokyo, a masked musician is smashing light tubes over another masked musician’s head before a handful of BBQ skewers are jammed in for good measure. To wash off the blood, the two athletes have a shower…of thumbtacks. And to think just a few minutes ago the two folks demolishing each other were demolishing their instruments and the audience via a set of hardcore punk. This is the two-man lucha libre/deathmatch-influenced band Gisiri. Think Eat the Turnbuckle on a tighter budget – though just because it’s on a smaller scale doesn’t mean the entertainment factor has also decreased.

The Razor Ramones

Hey yo. The Diamond Studd, Razor Ramon, and Big Scott Hall joined forces to create a pop punk NWO – and along with an endless number of toothpicks, the bad guys bring a mash of Ramones/wrestling mashups such as “I Don’t Wanna Be a Babyface” from their Rocket to Rusev album. No other band oozes as much machismo as The Razor Ramones, so let’s end it here. “One more for the good guys.”

Photo provided by Eat the Turnbuckle