Eric Young on His Entrance Music for Violent By Design, Sanity, NXT, and His Show Vinyl Obsession

Welcome to this episode of the Ropes and Riffs podcast.

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This is your host, Jon, Wrestling Entrance Theme Song Composer.

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So as you know, we talk all about music and wrestling and wrestling entrance themes.

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And today we're going to be speaking with somebody who is both a huge wrestling

personality and someone who's huge into music, which you probably know from his show,

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Vinyl Obsession.

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I'm talking about Eric Young.

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We're going to go ahead and talk all about vinyl obsession, his passion for music, which

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Obviously will coincide with my passion for music as well as talk about all of the

different themes he's had over his career from TNA to WWE and NXT.

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I'd like to dive into a little bit of the sanity theme with him also, cause that one's a

banger and then even up to violent by design.

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So we're to talk about all those things.

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We're going to jump here in a second, but before we jump in, thank you for checking out

the ropes and riffs podcast.

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directories.

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So thank you so much for your support.

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I don't make this show without the support from you guys.

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So thank you so much.

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On top of that,

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As always, if you donate $10 or more to PayPal at Ropes N Riffs, that's R-O-P-E-S, the

letter N, R-I-F-F-S, $10 or more gets you a shout out on the show.

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And again, I love hearing from you guys.

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I love shouting people out on the show.

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Without further ado, and without any further ado, let me introduce my guest at this time,

the one and only, Eric Young.

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pretty wild.

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I feel like nowadays the sicknesses are just kind of elongating.

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Like I was just having this conversation with somebody yesterday.

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It's like, I feel like when I was younger, like 10 years ago, okay, you'd get sick and

then it would be gone.

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Now it's like, I guess you're sick for a month now and your voice is gone for at least two

of those.

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So yeah.

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Yeah, that's where I'm sitting right now.

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So I feel mostly fine.

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uh

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Well, let me know if anything happens and I'll cut this part out.

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Let me know if at any point you're like, dude, my, my throat is gone.

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No worries.

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I mean, I'm used to it always kind of sounding like this.

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Well, talking about that, you have been somebody who have wanted to bring on the show

since before we even got started.

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was sending you some messages saying, Hey, you have vinyl obsession.

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You're somebody who obviously is so passionate about music.

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You're somebody that has so many different themes.

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you're like the staple person I wanted to bring on this show.

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And we bring in a lot of different wrestlers and musicians and talk about all different

things.

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But as somebody who just launched such as such an awesome show in vinyl obsession.

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and is bringing on so many different guests, all ranging from like Steve Vai to John Five

to Melissa Joan Hart.

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It's like, let's just start there.

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Let's just talk about and nerd out on some of that music stuff.

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So vinyl obsession, I say it just came out, but it's been going strong for a little bit.

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Now you're already in season two.

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Yeah, this is season two.

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They didn't have a host in the first season.

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So it was the same show.

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It's just there wasn't a host to kind of tie it together.

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Obviously, I'm a very small part of the show.

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The star of the show is really vinyl music.

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And then the one B would be some musician that's been making music and people have been

buying their music for 40-plus years or.

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you know the list goes on and on, they had a lot of great guests on the show.

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ah Really proud of the show.

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uh I don't think there'll be a season three that going a different direction at Access TV,

but there are some other things that worked.

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I got the show because I pitched another idea that I gotta keep under wraps, but about

vinyl music and then.

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great name, I am obsessed with vinyl myself.

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got over 2,000 albums downstairs in my record room and ah yeah, just super proud of the

show.

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mean, I don't think a lot of people watched it, which is why it's not going to continue.

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ah There's lots of stuff we can get into about that.

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It has nothing to do with the show or me or the guests or anybody that made the show.

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ah

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But the truth is, it was on at a weird time and not enough people watched it.

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But everyone that watched it had good things to say about it.

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And you know how social media can be.

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There's a negative Nellie in every group, but there was very, very few of those.

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mean, the thing that's really cool about Vital Obsession 2 is you have so many people from

all across the board coming into the show.

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And on top of all that, you know, you're getting them in a way rekindling a little bit of

what they felt when they first listened to like that first record or that first vinyl.

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And, you know, you see that with everyone from like Melissa Joan Hart to John 5.

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And it's just cool to be able to see.

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You know, at least for me, musicians that I've grown up with that I've respected nerding

out and just having such a good time with music that helped raise me.

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And I'm sure it was very pivotal to them too.

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And it was funny too, to see Melissa Joan Hart on there too, cause you know, she is a

wrestling fan.

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So there's that cool connection there, but it's just, it's so interesting.

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The guests that you had on who's been your favorite guests that you were able to interact

with on the show.

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I each one has its own kind of thing.

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Obviously, know, Dave Mustaine getting to talk to him, like, look, I'm not even what I

would say like a massive Megadeth fan.

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Like I respect the music and I like it, especially while I'm working out.

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ah But in that like thrash metal space, he's a God, you know, his metal guitar playing is

considered some of the best, if not the best of the world.

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ah And in that...

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realm of music and that bubble of music, he's considered one of like the forefathers of

thrash music in North America.

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uh know, stuff like that is cool.

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um I was a huge Bush fan.

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Still am a huge Bush fan.

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So, and Gavin Rossdale is...

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I thought he'd be cool.

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And then I got to hang out with him for a day and he's like, you're like, somehow he's

cooler than he looks and it's wild.

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ah But you know, like like your, to your point was, I feel like part of their guard is

down because they're in this thing.

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They're not asked to be talked about themselves, which can be a fit line for people that.

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are creative and you're being asked to talk about yourself but you don't want to come

across as egotistical.

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um You want to be personable but if you're only talking about yourself you don't seem

personable.

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There's a person very low down in that world, I can tell you that it can come across that

way when it's not even meant to be.

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And they had this opportunity just to talk about things that they like and that they're

passionate about.

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And I think it really...

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their guard comes down and they become very relaxed ah and all of them seemed genuinely

happy to be there and happy to be flipping through the boxes and chit chatting about

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music.

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That's really the base of the show because we can all identify anyone that is a collector

of vinyl or a lover, even just a lover of music in general.

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What's better than talking about your favorite music?

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That's what the whole show is.

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And I think it's even different than is, than if you were to say, you know, let's just

come on, let's go ahead and look through an iPod with some of your favorite music, that

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kind of thing.

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You know, it's, you're actually, yeah, you're going into the record store and you're kind

of getting them back to when they were a kid, not just from what they were listening to.

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But you know, for me, while I wasn't necessarily old enough to be able to go to vinyl

stores and whatnot, for me, it was CDs, it was tapes, right?

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Right.

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Going into all that.

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If I ever go into a place that still has all that, I'm just like, man, this is the coolest

thing in the world to just see new records and things like that.

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Cause everyone can go on their phone now and pick out the songs that they loved when they

were like two, three, four, 10, all that stuff.

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But to be able to go in and like you said, flip through the record.

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Sometimes you don't even know what you're going to get.

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Sometimes you don't even know if they're going to have the record that inspired you.

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And then all of sudden you'll come across another one.

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You're like, my God, I remember what I was doing that thing.

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Totally.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, yeah.

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And I think, you know, being from a certain vintage, like obviously, even me, when I got

into purchasing my own music, was CDs.

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And I've always been around records because my parents had records.

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But we had records even when we didn't have a record player.

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I'm very thankful.

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I used to think that was insane.

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I mean, I think I still do think that's insane, but I was very thankful because I got my

mom and dad's record collection, which was massive.

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A lot of stuff that I grew up listening to and there you can hear that a bunch of the show

is there's always this like familiar connection or You know, this was you know a sister a

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record my sister listened to over and over and she was older than me and then I stole it

from her and that's how I got into punk rock music and like there's a lot of things like

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that, but I think there's something very animalistic and uh ritualistic about the whole

process of vinyl of

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The hunting gathering.

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know this is going to sound like I've thought about it way too much and maybe I have, but

like the hunting gathering thing is something that's in as a human being.

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It's like, part of our genetics and it be erased like a dog that hurts or, uh, you know,

um, or a dog that barks or a dog that hunts.

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It's, they just know these things, right.

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And hunting and gathering has been part of the human condition for thousands as long as

we've been.

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So going to a store and looking and searching through, it touches on that.

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And then there's like this kind of ritual of like taking it out of the seal and pulling it

out of the sleeve, dropping it on the needle on the, holding it on the edges, don't

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scratch the vinyl.

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like it's, there's something very ritualistic about it, which I think is appealing to all

people, even if they know it or not, it's appealing to them at like such like a

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primalistic level.

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And it touches all of those things.

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And you know, we're sitting around the campfire swapping stories about the first time we

heard this album, or first time we saw the cover, or the first time we bought a record or

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whatever it is.

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And that's like the beauty of the show.

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It's just touching on this thing that everyone can identify with in some way.

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Music is such a combining thing.

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It's like something that's kind of prevalent in everyone's life, whether it massively or

even just I listen to music for 15 minutes.

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when I drive to work.

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uh Music is part of everyone's life so it's just a great show and uh I wish there was

going to be about 100 more of them.

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And you know what, though, vinyl is one of those things where it was also a different way

to listen to music.

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Like you said, completely different experience.

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You're taking it out of the wrapping, even so much to where side A has one thing, side B

has another thing.

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And this was also back in the day where, you know, if you release a record now and you

want to do something kind of cool at the end, like, okay, your last song hits, then

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there's like 10 minutes of silence and then you've got this little hidden thing at the

end.

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On a vinyl, you used to be able to do that and people would be like, oh my God, that's

super cool.

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Cause they didn't expect it.

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They didn't stop at these kind of let the record go.

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Now, all of a sudden you'll pick up like a record and the last track will be 15 minutes

long, but the song is three minutes.

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And you're like, all right, there's a thing there or iTunes or Apple or whatever.

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We'll go ahead and say hidden track.

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And then like, it'll be like 13 silences.

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And then one last thing at the end, which they had to name.

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you're like, even back then the discovery of what may be at the end of a record or

something else that's just even more creative is embedded in kind of the artistry.

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of being on a vinyl thing.

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Even CD didn't.

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CD had that a little bit, but again, you see the timer go up, but vinyl gave like even

more credence to being even more creative, I think.

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Yeah, I think there is really something to that.

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Like a lot of people talk about it wasn't something that was like crazy appealing to me,

but always kind of part of the process was the cover art.

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And that like was a part of CDs, like you can, you you get the little plastic case and you

slide that little, you know, the little insert out.

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That was, you know, it similar, right?

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It was like kind of the new age version of what, if there was like a record insert.

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a lyric insert or there was just an art insert in the middle.

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And a lot of times the cases would fold to reveal other art on the inside that you didn't

know that was there until you bought it and opened it.

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Right, I mean the internet, when I was young, young, didn't exist and when people were

buying records in the 70s, there was no way to know what was inside.

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And then if they pulled it out and it wasn't just black vinyl, it was colored vinyl or

something different.

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was it.

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It would blow their minds, right?

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Like, so, you know, and you wouldn't know unless you bought it and you would hear, you

know, like, did you hear that?

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You know, Ozzy Osbourne's, know, new things are made with bat blood and my goodness, crazy

stuff.

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That was part of the lore of who he was.

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Um, so yeah, I'm just infinitely proud of the show and was so happy to be chosen to work

on it.

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Worked along a bunch of amazing people.

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from cameraman to producers and executive producers.

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So it was an amazing experience.

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And you know what?

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There's nothing saying that down the road, you can't pick up something like that.

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You know, you have so many different people in the industry and so many different people

in music and wrestling that there's so many opportunities to pick that back up.

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And you got me now thinking about what was maybe the first vinyl that I had ever seen.

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Cause my dad, same thing.

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had lots of vinyls.

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And I think probably one of the first experiences with music that he brought me into on

vinyl was the magic mystery tour.

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And I remember hearing that when I was so young and I wasn't into music really seriously

until it was probably about

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You know, let's say 13, 14 or whatnot.

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So this was years before I was even like, okay, cool.

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Music is something I want to do professionally or do anything.

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And this is just me listening as a kid.

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And I remember how like, again, like we all do, or like we all did, we had those giant

cabinets full of vinyls.

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And it's just, uh, I remember that he would go ahead and pull that out.

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And that was like a daily or a weekly thing for him when he got home from work to be able

to listen to.

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And that's where I was thinking like, oh man, the side, a, the side B, all that, man,

that's bringing me back to my childhood too.

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And this is what would happen on the show, right?

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Like you, sit down and have these conversations with people.

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They would see a cover or they would see a band name like, oh, you know, like, you know,

Drain Drain.

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I haven't thought about that forever.

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And me and my, you know, teenage sister went to the mall and we wanted this thing and it

was sold out and it was snowing and like all these like memories can come flooding back to

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them.

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And I'm

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they're living that in real time and it's just so cool how things like that just connect

everybody so easily and so quickly and how something that someone probably hasn't thought

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of in 20 or 30 years can just come vividly back and that's the power of music, I think.

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The number one power of music is that, the nostalgia of it, the reminiscing, you can hear

a song and it can transport you to a time in life where that was playing in the background

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or those

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birthday party or that was playing at your first dance with a girl or whatever it is.

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It's a really, really powerful thing, And I'm really happy to even be part of such a small

part of that.

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Yeah.

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And even talking about the marriage of music with wrestling, which is what we're going to

talk about next is the entrance themes or the music in the packages or the music for a

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show.

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Any of that stuff.

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Music has played such a pivotal role in the entrance themes in wrestling.

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And I would argue to say that even over the last 15, 20 years or so, even going back

further than that, you have so many of these iconic entrance themes that help build the

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brand and help build the vision of any of the wrestlers.

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And like I said to you before we hopped on air,

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You're somebody that has been in the industry and has made such a staple over the last

amount of years.

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And you know, you're somebody that has gone through lots of different character changes,

someone who has innovated, someone who has been able to take part in everything from the

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most serious of characters to really funny things, to things that are even more outside

the box.

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And so for you, think uniquely over many other wrestlers, you've had a lot of different

entrance themes over time.

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that evoke lots of different emotions based on what you're doing.

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Everything from what you were doing with Team Canada, all the way to Sanity, all the way

to what you're doing now, violent by design.

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I mean, with what you were doing, by design.

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Why can't I say that?

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With what you were doing with violent by design and all of the different themes you've had

for anything you've done in your solo run, for you when you're coming up with an entrance

236

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theme or for when you're working with somebody on it you're choosing it.

237

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What are some of the things that you're thinking about in that process of choosing an

entrance theme?

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I mean, the biggest thing for me is mood and feel.

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I can even pick a song that I don't even like hearing, just depending on the mood that I

want to set.

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And I think it's, know, Edrids themes and package themes, that's the soundtrack to

wrestling.

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Like if you were to release a soundtrack, you release wrestling themes.

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And...

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The truth is people hear that before they even see you.

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There are so many iconic entrance scenes like, you hear that, who's coming, then his ass

breaks and here he comes and someone's getting their ass kicked.

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That's just so iconic and it's such, I mean of course, because I've been this diehard

wrestling fan for so long.

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But anyone that has even kind of loosely watched, if you said that riff to them, they

would know who that is.

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It draws a picture in their mind.

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They don't even have to see them.

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it's having the right song can really set the tone for who you are.

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And I say this, if I do seminars and things like that, like you got to pick a song that

fits.

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When Jason Voorhees is creeping around through the woods, they're not playing marching

band music.

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It would take you out of visually of what's going on.

253

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If you're trying to portray someone that's evil, like when I was in Violent by Design,

when you hear that music, it should sound violent and it should sound mean and unforgiving

254

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and...

255

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volatile and all of those things because

256

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Once you hear those first couple bars of that song, you know, here comes my son and the

mood in an arena can change.

257

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So it's, mean, it's crazy important, right?

258

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And I've, I've had the, mean, I say privilege.

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think some people would look at it differently, but I've done, you know, so many different

characters, but each time, like there's lots of thought put into what the music should be.

260

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And like Eric Tompkins, he's had a production for, for TNA.

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More people should know his name because

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TNA probably doesn't exist without him.

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Certainly doesn't exist in the creative realm that it creates is without him.

264

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And he is a guy that I trust and help me find the right one, right?

265

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They have a database of millions of songs.

266

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You can kind of type in to the database, bluesy,

267

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He's just clicking and listening, clicking and listening.

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So my current one is like a spin-off of Johnny Cash covering Nine Inch Nails.

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it's, I don't even know if it's good like baby face music, but he said it, sounds like

star music, right?

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And it's certainly not upbeat in what you would think about for a baby face, but when you

hear it.

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There's, there's some kind of a tone that it sets.

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And I mean, in wrestling, it's, it's everything now and a bad one.

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Yeah, and you you say it's a matter of like the baby face or the heel but really I think

you dialed in on a second ago is it's all really about your character, know, it's what are

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you trying to evoke even further than okay?

275

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Am I gonna be a bad guy tonight?

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Am I being a good guy tonight?

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It's really more in the way I've always said it when I write themes for wrestlers is each

wrestler is like a movie each wrestler is telling their own story and you're scoring that

278

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on their way to the ring and

279

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People have that in the back of their minds as you're in the ring.

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They remember what happened before.

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And like you said, your theme now may not be babyface, it may not be heel, but it's more

something that is when Eric Young's there, you know what Eric Young is about.

282

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You know what EY's come into the ring to do.

283

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And you know, I think that's even true with a lot of the themes that you've had over time,

even something like Blood and Fire, which you've also had a great opportunity to be able

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to work with.

285

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As you said, Tompkins over there, but you've also been able to work with a Dale Oliver to

be able to create some awesome music for you too, over the years.

286

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Um, that one's the one for me that I don't know why over all of the themes that you've

done, like out of all the solo themes that I've heard for you, that's the one that always

287

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I remember.

288

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And maybe it was because of the stories that you were in at the time with like MVP and all

that kind of stuff.

289

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But for me, that one was always just like.

290

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whether Eric Young has come to kick ass, whether he's coming to do some comedy work,

whether he's just coming out to entertain or whether he's going to come out to like break

291

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your neck, all of those things.

292

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It just seemed like such, I don't know why it was upbeat, but it seemed so up the middle

of the road for what you were doing.

293

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Yeah, that with Dale was, it was the first time that I was going to be uh a bad guy in a

long time.

294

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And for me, the music is just so important.

295

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It sets a tone in your entrance and all that stuff.

296

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And I heard When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin.

297

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And there's just something about that slow bass line and the

298

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You know, it just, it made me like want to like do this and like bad-ass slow stretch

walk.

299

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And I told Dale, like I want it to be obviously not when the levy breaks, but like a

modern version of that.

300

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So he took that song and incorporated some guitar riffs from a van like Wolf Mother, which

is really heavy, cool guitar stuff.

301

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Ended up, I mean, I really loved the song and I love mostly that.

302

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that point, Dale was writing almost all of it at TNA and getting a chance to decide.

303

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For years, was just like, this is your new music.

304

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And that goes on in a lot of places.

305

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You don't get to pick or have say or any of that.

306

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So it was really cool to be part of the process and uh know that I had nothing to do with

the making of the music, but the vision of what I wanted.

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in my career that that

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And I think a lot of people think of all the entrance theme song composers that have

existed in different companies, but I think Del Oliver is somebody that, rightfully so,

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gets a lot of credit from kind of a hardcore audience of wrestling.

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But I don't think he gets quite the credit that he deserves from more of a wide audience

because he was doing some amazing music at the time for you, for everybody.

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You know, if you go back and you listen to a lot of what he did, I would venture to say

that a lot of the music that he came up with, you could tell...

312

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you know, maybe where an influence was from, but you could totally hear the uniqueness of

Dale Oliver.

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And it's funny, not a lot of people really bring up how the collaborative process was with

him, but it sounds like from your experience with Dale Oliver, it was a really great

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process of going back and forth.

315

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I'd love you to outline a little bit as to how it was working with Dale Oliver.

316

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I know you didn't write the music, like you said, but it seemed like it was pretty

collaborative.

317

00:25:52,919 --> 00:25:54,730

Yeah, it's very, very collaborative.

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uh first of all, like, I Dale had worked here forever and had like, he's from and around

Nashville.

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So we traveled, you know, on the same planes and spend a lot of hours in airports and a

really nice guy, obviously, talented guy plays all instruments.

320

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Dale was really receptive for like this.

321

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He's like, yeah, yeah, I could do something like this.

322

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But like I said, when the levee breaks Led Zeppelin, which is I think one of my favorite

tunes of theirs, is that music just seemed so bad ass and made me want to like.

323

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like just kind of like be in my own head.

324

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And there's also this weird underlining, I think to a lot of Led Zeppelin's music where

it's, it's not angry, but it sounds like it could be, if that makes sense.

325

00:26:40,903 --> 00:26:41,243

Right.

326

00:26:41,243 --> 00:26:52,448

It's, know, and, and when the levy breaks, which is such a cool, slow riff that may for

lack of a better word, I told Dale, it makes me want to strut kind of like a, like a

327

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peacock, you know, and uh,

328

00:26:55,553 --> 00:27:04,423

slow and like this grimace on my face where I'm just kind of taking my own time and you

guys are all here to look at me and I'm gonna do

329

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Yeah.

330

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You know, and I don't even know that it will be, you know, maybe I'll grab a fan.

331

00:27:10,905 --> 00:27:20,742

Maybe I'll grab the referee, maybe I'll whatever, you know, I wanted it to feel

unpredictable and the song itself is very like constructed, but it, I don't know.

332

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It just, I really loved it.

333

00:27:22,183 --> 00:27:27,757

And I think the reason I loved it most is because I was part of the process of picking

what it sounded like.

334

00:27:28,418 --> 00:27:32,125

And I was also, that was a very like a

335

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important part of my career where I was going from being a guy that kind of had been

around a lot and done a lot of things to being like kind of like a main player on the top

336

00:27:41,630 --> 00:27:42,671

part of the car.

337

00:27:43,807 --> 00:27:55,107

And you were a main player, I think through a lot of your time in TNA, especially the, I

want to say like the back half of it going into NXT and then even coming back into TNA

338

00:27:55,107 --> 00:27:55,567

later on.

339

00:27:55,567 --> 00:28:03,515

Like you've always been somebody that's been a staple and to be able to have music that is

recognizable at all stages of your career that tells people what they can expect.

340

00:28:03,515 --> 00:28:04,215

That's huge.

341

00:28:04,215 --> 00:28:05,716

And it's a big thing to Dale Oliver.

342

00:28:05,716 --> 00:28:10,901

I know that you said that Led Zeppelin sounds aggressive sometimes, or like sounds a

little bit more like

343

00:28:10,901 --> 00:28:12,182

be more aggressive than they should.

344

00:28:12,182 --> 00:28:17,784

We can all thank John Bonham for hitting the crap out of those drums harder than most

people ever hit the crap out of the drums.

345

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So it's awesome.

346

00:28:19,445 --> 00:28:28,008

And then you have all this different music that you're using with different groups, with

your solo runs in TNA Impact Wrestling.

347

00:28:28,008 --> 00:28:32,310

And then you make the move over to NXT.

348

00:28:32,310 --> 00:28:36,572

And there was that first theme that you had used when it was you and Samoa Joe in the

ring.

349

00:28:36,572 --> 00:28:38,973

And first off, everybody kind of knew it was happening.

350

00:28:38,973 --> 00:28:39,839

Everyone was like,

351

00:28:39,839 --> 00:28:40,699

What's going on?

352

00:28:40,699 --> 00:28:43,140

That's just what we said, but everyone knew it was going on.

353

00:28:43,140 --> 00:28:53,093

That was probably one of my favorite moments in NXT history, if I'm being honest with you,

because again, you being somebody who had been such a fan of for so long, you and Samoa

354

00:28:53,093 --> 00:28:56,765

Joe, if I'm being honest, seeing you pop up there, was like, oh, this is crazy.

355

00:28:56,765 --> 00:28:57,855

This is cool.

356

00:28:57,855 --> 00:29:03,097

And hearing that theme that you had there, it was an interesting theme.

357

00:29:03,569 --> 00:29:04,217

I...

358

00:29:04,341 --> 00:29:12,398

Don't know if it was as, in my opinion, iconic as what I had heard in TNA, but I'm also

willing to go down the fan road of that and be like, man, I wish they would have just

359

00:29:12,398 --> 00:29:15,472

taken the Dale Oliver theme and just moved that right over.

360

00:29:15,472 --> 00:29:20,337

And that was a CFO theme that you had with them when you would come over upfront.

361

00:29:20,337 --> 00:29:28,775

And we'll get into the sanity stuff in a second, but what was the process working in NXT

and WWE on at least that first theme?

362

00:29:29,311 --> 00:29:42,425

Yeah, the first one was uh I went to I had finished up my contract with TMA wrestling and

ah Triple H had reached out about wanting to meet with me.

363

00:29:42,425 --> 00:29:45,846

There was no offer or anything just wanted me to fly down.

364

00:29:45,846 --> 00:29:48,447

They'd fly me down to an NXT taping and me and him would meet.

365

00:29:48,447 --> 00:29:50,497

That was only, that was it.

366

00:29:50,497 --> 00:29:55,889

That was the only thing that was told and it's kind of an old school rule is.

367

00:29:55,999 --> 00:29:58,230

Whether you're booked or not, take your stuff, right?

368

00:29:58,230 --> 00:29:59,872

You take your wrestling stuff.

369

00:29:59,992 --> 00:30:01,694

I was not supposed to wrestle.

370

00:30:01,694 --> 00:30:04,535

There was never mention of me wrestling, none of that.

371

00:30:04,936 --> 00:30:07,058

We met during the day at the Performance Center.

372

00:30:07,058 --> 00:30:13,282

the time, the Performance Center was in a different building and then they taped all the

NXT episodes at Full Sail University.

373

00:30:13,723 --> 00:30:18,867

So you go over to Full Sail and you're there during the day and you're meeting everybody

in the rings there or whatever.

374

00:30:19,028 --> 00:30:21,169

I think the show started at like,

375

00:30:21,313 --> 00:30:24,033

and it was around 4.30, 5 o'clock.

376

00:30:24,033 --> 00:30:26,473

Someone said, hey, Triple H has a question for you.

377

00:30:26,473 --> 00:30:27,973

You can meet him down by ringside.

378

00:30:27,973 --> 00:30:29,413

So I went down by ringside.

379

00:30:29,413 --> 00:30:30,873

He's like, I got this idea.

380

00:30:34,759 --> 00:30:38,927

open the show with an open challenge and then some.

381

00:30:41,313 --> 00:30:42,673

And challenge them.

382

00:30:42,673 --> 00:30:47,433

And you guys just put something together, no problem, main event, no big deal.

383

00:30:47,833 --> 00:30:49,513

You guys have wrestled a thousand times.

384

00:30:49,513 --> 00:30:52,533

I don't think me and Joe had ever really touched.

385

00:30:52,533 --> 00:30:55,193

We certainly hadn't wrestled a singles match ever.

386

00:30:55,453 --> 00:31:00,633

I think we had been in a couple tags, we were six man tags, where we interacted a little

bit.

387

00:31:00,633 --> 00:31:05,053

we really didn't, I mean, I've known him forever, he's still a very good friend of mine.

388

00:31:05,053 --> 00:31:08,033

But it's not like we had all this things that go on.

389

00:31:11,745 --> 00:31:15,069

And was like, do you have any images on your gimmicks?

390

00:31:15,069 --> 00:31:18,332

And I had shared the pin art of those.

391

00:31:18,332 --> 00:31:25,002

That's why it looks all weird, because it wasn't meant to be put on a video screen that

says, and the song, there was like 10 songs.

392

00:31:25,002 --> 00:31:27,011

It like, I'll just listen to any of these.

393

00:31:27,011 --> 00:31:28,603

And that was the one I kind of picked out.

394

00:31:28,603 --> 00:31:31,435

Said, this won't be your music.

395

00:31:31,435 --> 00:31:33,869

It will just be your music for tonight kind of thing.

396

00:31:33,869 --> 00:31:34,629

So.

397

00:31:39,233 --> 00:31:44,473

And it wasn't right for later on what they decided to do with the sanity thing.

398

00:31:44,473 --> 00:31:59,293

That had to be constructed from the ground up and happily to say like part of why I really

like working there, working with the WWE at that point was Triple H was very inclusive and

399

00:31:59,293 --> 00:32:01,693

still is from what I understand still is today.

400

00:32:01,873 --> 00:32:06,193

So he wanted my input and the other guys.

401

00:32:06,515 --> 00:32:07,477

weren't in the group yet.

402

00:32:07,477 --> 00:32:11,456

I was the group by myself, so I had to pick the colors.

403

00:32:11,456 --> 00:32:16,025

I had my first jacket designed and all the jackets that were designed after that were

404

00:32:18,273 --> 00:32:32,337

uh And he doesn't get the, even though like people like him and stuff, don't know if

people get the, he gets the full respect of like a lot of like the best stuff in the last

405

00:32:32,337 --> 00:32:34,622

15 years has come from his head.

406

00:32:34,702 --> 00:32:38,644

And I mean, I think the proof is in the pudding right now, right?

407

00:32:38,644 --> 00:32:43,287

It's, it's on such a, it's just on such a juggernaut level.

408

00:32:43,287 --> 00:32:46,788

And that all starts with him because he's at the top of the tree.

409

00:32:46,933 --> 00:32:47,271

Yeah.

410

00:32:47,271 --> 00:32:56,195

And yeah, huge respect to him of allowing me to choose and I went through that database

for hours.

411

00:32:56,195 --> 00:32:57,035

mean.

412

00:33:01,057 --> 00:33:04,377

He had kind of settled on a few and I settled on a few.

413

00:33:04,617 --> 00:33:10,897

And I said, this is the one I really like, but that song had no heavy guitar in it.

414

00:33:10,897 --> 00:33:18,777

And I said, over top of all that, there should be like a really like heavy like.

415

00:33:24,459 --> 00:33:32,039

Jim Johnson and his crew put it together and mash it up and add in kind of a guitar riff.

416

00:33:32,039 --> 00:33:38,196

And even I think that bass, that perl-m-m, that, you know, that the bass that's in that, I

don't think it was as prominent.

417

00:33:38,196 --> 00:33:43,713

And I think I said that both the guitar riff and that bass should be like...

418

00:33:45,651 --> 00:33:52,800

and the music that they had already wrote and tomorrow our thing and then the final part

is the sanity music which is

419

00:33:53,653 --> 00:33:59,426

Yeah, the sanity music and just the gimmick in general and just the presentation,

everything worked so well together.

420

00:33:59,426 --> 00:34:04,259

That music is, as you said before, it's like the glue for everything.

421

00:34:04,259 --> 00:34:12,414

And with that music, it's interesting to note that from what it sounds like, it was kind

of a combination of like a library track, like, okay, let's look at all these different

422

00:34:12,414 --> 00:34:12,964

things.

423

00:34:12,964 --> 00:34:16,626

And then you give it off to CFOs and they go ahead and say, okay, cool, let's add this.

424

00:34:16,626 --> 00:34:21,845

And they're collaborating with you and they're saying, you know what, let's go ahead and

add all of these different elements.

425

00:34:21,845 --> 00:34:30,072

I think that's something that a lot of people may overlook is the fact that there are

songs that are a hundred percent original, a hundred percent from the head of the composer

426

00:34:30,072 --> 00:34:31,774

with collaboration with the wrestler.

427

00:34:31,774 --> 00:34:41,042

But then there are some that are also direction taken or parts kind of brought into

something that might already exist because there are some already good skeletons and bones

428

00:34:41,042 --> 00:34:41,953

to something like that.

429

00:34:41,953 --> 00:34:44,585

And that kind of sounds like that's what it was with sanity.

430

00:34:44,991 --> 00:35:02,585

Yeah, uh

431

00:35:02,593 --> 00:35:10,293

and then it comes in and like the spotlights would come in on the stage and we'd walk out

and there would be smoke and like it's all really well thought through, right?

432

00:35:10,293 --> 00:35:15,233

Like, I mean, everything that you see is why it looks so good is it's thought of, right?

433

00:35:15,233 --> 00:35:19,253

Like it's for sometimes painstakingly for hours and hours.

434

00:35:19,253 --> 00:35:22,833

So it's a, that's definitely one of those labor of love things.

435

00:35:22,833 --> 00:35:24,593

And like, I could do that every day.

436

00:35:24,593 --> 00:35:27,693

Like it's just such a cool process and fun process.

437

00:35:27,693 --> 00:35:31,253

just music is just such an important part of what we do.

438

00:35:31,357 --> 00:35:39,001

It's the first part of us, of any character that you hear or see.

439

00:35:39,001 --> 00:35:43,803

I'm behind the curtain when it plays, and most guys are behind the curtain when it plays.

440

00:35:43,824 --> 00:35:45,744

And you want that start.

441

00:35:47,102 --> 00:35:58,727

those first few notes to hit and the lights come on a certain way and certain lights go

off in a certain way and the smoke is in a certain way, people can anticipate who's coming

442

00:35:58,727 --> 00:36:00,457

out before they even see them, right?

443

00:36:00,457 --> 00:36:05,559

The anticipation is a huge part of what we do and a huge part of, I mean, music, right?

444

00:36:05,559 --> 00:36:10,681

Like how long have people been like, thank you guys and leaving the stage and then

everyone claps like this?

445

00:36:18,347 --> 00:36:19,488

leave and walk off stage.

446

00:36:19,488 --> 00:36:22,320

The only person I ever have seen not do that is Dave Matthews.

447

00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:31,025

He just said, you know, like, this is the part where we walk off and then you guys clap a

bunch, but we're kind of up against the time.

448

00:36:31,326 --> 00:36:32,737

So we're not going to leave.

449

00:36:32,737 --> 00:36:34,228

We'll just play a couple more songs.

450

00:36:34,228 --> 00:36:35,929

So he could play a couple more songs.

451

00:36:36,235 --> 00:36:37,608

He's like, can clap for like a second.

452

00:36:37,608 --> 00:36:38,179

One more song.

453

00:36:38,179 --> 00:36:38,450

Got it.

454

00:36:38,450 --> 00:36:38,660

Great.

455

00:36:38,660 --> 00:36:39,551

Let's go.

456

00:36:40,725 --> 00:36:43,686

You guys know the trick because we've all been to a concert where they do that.

457

00:36:43,686 --> 00:36:47,477

And like, don't, I like when they do it because it makes people clap and get even louder.

458

00:36:47,477 --> 00:36:52,499

And it's fun to be part of that and thinking, Oh, like we clap loud enough and they came

back out.

459

00:36:52,499 --> 00:36:53,459

They couldn't say no.

460

00:36:53,459 --> 00:36:59,431

Like it happens in every building at every show, almost anywhere in the world.

461

00:36:59,431 --> 00:37:04,832

And, but I feel like if some artists didn't do it, you would feel disappointed.

462

00:37:04,832 --> 00:37:07,429

You know, like it's part of the experience.

463

00:37:07,429 --> 00:37:12,136

And that's like to your point of like music being part of the wrestling experience.

464

00:37:12,136 --> 00:37:18,657

It's not a rock and roll show, but it's definitely music is such a massive part of pro

wrestling and the pro wrestling.

465

00:37:18,657 --> 00:37:20,178

Close enough to a rock and roll show.

466

00:37:20,178 --> 00:37:23,620

mean, with all the things that happen, absolutely.

467

00:37:26,102 --> 00:37:26,702

Totally.

468

00:37:26,702 --> 00:37:34,868

Now, one thing I do want to bring back real quick to the sanity theme is one thing that

I've always really loved about it too is you have the group sanity theme.

469

00:37:34,868 --> 00:37:42,353

But then one thing that I've loved if, you know, it doesn't happen all the time in

wrestling, but it's happened with a couple of different factions.

470

00:37:42,353 --> 00:37:48,425

It's happened with wrestlers that I've worked with over time that have come from a group

and gone solo or vice versa is

471

00:37:48,425 --> 00:37:54,938

you can take elements of that theme and bring them into even solo versions of an entrance

theme.

472

00:37:54,938 --> 00:38:03,765

And from that sanity theme came the version for Nikki Cross where she has like that brutal

female scream and then there's a little bit of a beat drop in deference.

473

00:38:03,765 --> 00:38:07,855

You the one for Big Demo where it brought in more of like the bagpipes and things like

that.

474

00:38:07,855 --> 00:38:11,861

And it was really cool to be able to see that for each individual person.

475

00:38:11,861 --> 00:38:15,162

there were still these little elements of we're all part of sanity.

476

00:38:15,162 --> 00:38:17,703

It shouldn't be that all of sudden we leave the group.

477

00:38:17,703 --> 00:38:22,865

And if the group's not disbanded, then all of a sudden there's just a complete 180 degree

shift.

478

00:38:22,865 --> 00:38:32,448

was like, it's this continuity that I think modern wrestling for TV is really able to do

because then it becomes more like a movie like we talked about earlier, more like a TV

479

00:38:32,448 --> 00:38:33,008

show.

480

00:38:33,008 --> 00:38:37,253

You have this group and wherever they go, you're thinking of this group.

481

00:38:37,253 --> 00:38:46,379

Or this faction or this person as they evolve over time, there's little elements, little

musical themes that it's like, Oh, they started here now four years later, they're here,

482

00:38:46,379 --> 00:38:48,020

but this is where it all started.

483

00:38:48,020 --> 00:38:52,824

Everyone talks about Roman Reigns theme where it's like, you had the shield thing for

awhile.

484

00:38:52,824 --> 00:38:59,789

And then even in like that new theme, you hear little elements of that, like the little

guitar riffs slowed down, brought in.

485

00:38:59,789 --> 00:39:06,643

It's just cool because it makes that continuity happen even more for an audience member

between, okay, we're here.

486

00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:11,315

And now we're here until you do that 180 degrees shift where you're like, I'm no longer

with the group.

487

00:39:11,315 --> 00:39:12,987

Now it's a brand new thing.

488

00:39:14,015 --> 00:39:14,786

Yeah, yeah.

489

00:39:14,786 --> 00:39:20,730

And that's it's important for those three lines, because some people can get so connected

to that piece of art.

490

00:39:20,791 --> 00:39:22,171

That is who you are.

491

00:39:22,171 --> 00:39:28,576

You know, like if Steve Austin, he's had a couple different versions of his theme, right?

492

00:39:29,257 --> 00:39:36,443

in the start of every one, once they got to that part where you hear that glass break,

that was the cue for the crowd to scream.

493

00:39:36,443 --> 00:39:36,853

Yeah.

494

00:39:36,853 --> 00:39:39,007

And without that, it wouldn't feel like is.

495

00:39:39,007 --> 00:39:49,003

And there was like the disturbed version and there was, but it was all the same kind of

rift and same kind of feel because if you didn't get that, felt ripped off as a customer.

496

00:39:49,003 --> 00:39:59,019

And I think when they did the San Diego ones, was cool because we wanted to feel not like

an actual group, not like a wrestling group.

497

00:39:59,019 --> 00:40:06,921

Like if you notice on the show, it's like, barely did any interviews on the set because we

didn't want to feel like we were

498

00:40:06,921 --> 00:40:07,982

part of that world.

499

00:40:07,982 --> 00:40:12,946

wanted to feel like we're from this other world coming to take this world kind of thing.

500

00:40:12,946 --> 00:40:16,929

like we, we Triple H, this is part of his vision too.

501

00:40:16,929 --> 00:40:25,806

And I agree with it was shooting, you know, in, we shot the bowels of the center stage in

Atlanta.

502

00:40:25,806 --> 00:40:28,399

We shot on the roof that full sail, right?

503

00:40:28,399 --> 00:40:30,560

With the light, you know, spotlights kind of looking up.

504

00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:31,711

You can't tell where we are.

505

00:40:31,711 --> 00:40:36,635

You were just on this crappy tar roof from the school, but it looked and felt different.

506

00:40:36,745 --> 00:40:46,048

And um having Nikki have her own and like, know, the Celtic music and demos and me and

Wolf when we tagged was slightly different from when Wolf and Damo tagged.

507

00:40:46,048 --> 00:40:53,030

And it was, I think, kind of like, not like a cookie, but fans pick up on it.

508

00:40:53,030 --> 00:40:53,350

Yeah.

509

00:40:53,350 --> 00:40:56,270

It makes it each entrance feel special.

510

00:40:56,270 --> 00:41:04,723

Also, if we were wrestling, you know, if Nikki had a match and then I had a match and

maybe the other guys were having a tag, you would hear the same thing three times.

511

00:41:04,723 --> 00:41:06,219

People get tired of it.

512

00:41:06,219 --> 00:41:08,834

So they're having those slight variations.

513

00:41:08,834 --> 00:41:14,463

It also just is more important because each individual wanted to feel individualistic.

514

00:41:14,463 --> 00:41:16,747

And with the, we're just using the same music.

515

00:41:16,747 --> 00:41:18,569

It's a lot harder to do.

516

00:41:18,773 --> 00:41:23,659

And now we go into the Violent by Design music that you have, which is Nine Lives.

517

00:41:23,659 --> 00:41:23,939

Right?

518

00:41:23,939 --> 00:41:26,011

It's a theme that you've used on your own.

519

00:41:26,011 --> 00:41:28,705

It's a theme that's been used with Violent by Design.

520

00:41:28,705 --> 00:41:31,608

That one, I believe, is from a band.

521

00:41:31,608 --> 00:41:34,031

Or was that from everything that I've seen.

522

00:41:34,031 --> 00:41:35,072

That one's from a band.

523

00:41:35,072 --> 00:41:36,267

eh

524

00:41:36,267 --> 00:41:39,469

Yeah, a lot of the T &A themes are from bands.

525

00:41:39,469 --> 00:41:47,183

there's, don't know what it's called, but it's like a database where as a band, you can

submit your stuff.

526

00:41:47,323 --> 00:41:57,649

And I think that database will send you, you know, like X amount of dollars every time

it's used, or maybe it's one fee per album.

527

00:41:57,649 --> 00:42:02,682

And then now your music, I know, I don't know who it was.

528

00:42:02,682 --> 00:42:04,993

want it to someone in AEW.

529

00:42:06,441 --> 00:42:18,368

used a song, the Violent by Design theme as like a package for, because they're using the

same database.

530

00:42:18,389 --> 00:42:23,132

Wrestling Minds All Think alike, so production person there was like, this sounds cool.

531

00:42:23,132 --> 00:42:31,117

this is a song I've been using on TV for a year and a half, but you're welcome to use it

because it's available to everybody on this database.

532

00:42:31,117 --> 00:42:31,937

So.

533

00:42:32,223 --> 00:42:37,129

And I think both companies fall from that same database, it's literally millions and

millions of songs.

534

00:42:37,129 --> 00:42:46,169

And some of it is just people that make music with their computer, some as bands, some are

just singles, it's all kinds of different.

535

00:42:46,729 --> 00:42:55,493

It's funny because for me, with some of the music I've worked on for even talents over at

TNA, you know, we've done Brian Myers theme with It Lives It Breathes, Masha Slamovich's

536

00:42:55,493 --> 00:42:57,915

first theme when she came in was something that I did.

537

00:42:57,915 --> 00:43:03,657

And when I started doing themes, I was always just like, you know, how do you even start

doing that?

538

00:43:03,657 --> 00:43:09,640

And a lot of it has been just communicating with wrestlers such as yourself saying, hey,

I'd love to be able to work on something with you.

539

00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:11,029

And then over time,

540

00:43:11,029 --> 00:43:14,791

You end up seeing that there are all different places that people that places pull from.

541

00:43:14,791 --> 00:43:17,792

And especially when it comes to TV, it comes to rights.

542

00:43:17,792 --> 00:43:19,553

And that's why the libraries are so big.

543

00:43:19,553 --> 00:43:22,474

It's like, can look and see, here's all this different music.

544

00:43:22,474 --> 00:43:31,519

But it's funny because over time now it's like, it's gone from being what I would just

call like production house music or like, just royalty free music all the way to becoming

545

00:43:31,519 --> 00:43:36,373

like, yeah, like you said, actual bands are putting this out and the music's awesome.

546

00:43:36,373 --> 00:43:41,096

You can always go to a composer to get something really specific, which a lot of people

still do.

547

00:43:41,096 --> 00:43:49,200

But a lot of that library music that WWE, AEW, TNA pull from, it's really quality stuff

because you're actually getting it from bands.

548

00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:57,125

And you know, if you're not working with those bands one-on-one, I think they're doing a

real good service on being able to get wrestlers really high quality themes that can rep

549

00:43:57,125 --> 00:44:05,087

them and also saying, Hey, let's work with musicians who are actually putting things out

and bring that into the fold too, while keeping the rights as.

550

00:44:05,087 --> 00:44:08,308

simplistic as possible and good for all parties.

551

00:44:08,917 --> 00:44:14,182

Yeah, I mean, like, as you know, like, it's just such a, uh, an impossible industry to

break through.

552

00:44:15,905 --> 00:44:18,842

I've got a very distinct story about it.

553

00:44:18,842 --> 00:44:24,354

I, I'm not going to use his name because I don't want to get him in any trouble, but a

buddy of mine has a band here in, Nashville.

554

00:44:24,354 --> 00:44:27,017

Um, and they tour all over North America.

555

00:44:27,017 --> 00:44:31,327

They're bigger in the United States because rock and roll music is still alive and well

over there.

556

00:44:31,327 --> 00:44:33,643

Yeah, really cool rock band.

557

00:44:33,643 --> 00:44:36,259

had just released a new album and him and his band.

558

00:44:36,259 --> 00:44:39,607

I think he, I can't remember what label it's a big label.

559

00:44:39,607 --> 00:44:40,619

want to say it was Sony.

560

00:44:40,619 --> 00:44:41,537

was under.

561

00:44:41,537 --> 00:44:44,617

They, you can get, they can come after me.

562

00:44:44,617 --> 00:44:45,677

don't care.

563

00:44:45,677 --> 00:44:49,737

But they, we basically were doing this thing yet for Violent by Design.

564

00:44:49,737 --> 00:44:54,497

And I went to Eric Tompkins and said, this song for this thing that we're doing would be

perfect.

565

00:44:54,497 --> 00:44:55,277

He listened to it.

566

00:44:55,277 --> 00:44:56,177

He's like, man, you're right.

567

00:44:56,177 --> 00:44:58,337

Can you reach out to him and see if it's cool?

568

00:44:58,337 --> 00:44:59,197

And I did.

569

00:44:59,197 --> 00:45:00,397

And he said, yeah, absolutely.

570

00:45:00,397 --> 00:45:01,257

Here's my manager.

571

00:45:01,257 --> 00:45:02,357

He'll set it all up.

572

00:45:02,357 --> 00:45:03,517

Talk to that guy.

573

00:45:03,517 --> 00:45:07,897

And then we got this email from Sony saying like, you got to pay $800.

574

00:45:08,077 --> 00:45:09,497

And like,

575

00:45:09,833 --> 00:45:11,703

It's going to be played for nine seconds.

576

00:45:11,703 --> 00:45:14,414

And the most people in North America are going to hear his music.

577

00:45:14,414 --> 00:45:15,495

We're not going to pay.

578

00:45:15,495 --> 00:45:19,196

We'll just use one of the songs off the database that we already pay for.

579

00:45:19,196 --> 00:45:27,578

But if you want to, we could watermark, you know, so and so and so any music at the bottom

and they wouldn't budge, you know, they wouldn't budge.

580

00:45:27,578 --> 00:45:33,129

And I can say a lot of people here now, him included are doing it themselves.

581

00:45:33,129 --> 00:45:34,370

I feel like he was kind of embarrassed.

582

00:45:34,370 --> 00:45:37,440

He apologized to me and I like, I felt bad for him.

583

00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:39,341

This is music that he wrote.

584

00:45:39,893 --> 00:45:43,600

that he produced and recorded in his own house.

585

00:45:44,179 --> 00:45:47,951

played lead guitar, did lead vocals, and his band did the rest of music.

586

00:45:47,951 --> 00:45:49,732

Sony has nothing to do with it.

587

00:45:49,732 --> 00:45:53,333

And they're saying, well, now you've got to pay us 800 bucks.

588

00:45:53,433 --> 00:45:54,824

And he's saying, no, it's cool.

589

00:45:54,824 --> 00:45:59,096

I want them to use it so people will hear it and see it on national television.

590

00:45:59,096 --> 00:46:00,326

And they said, no, we don't care.

591

00:46:00,326 --> 00:46:01,937

It's 800 bucks.

592

00:46:01,937 --> 00:46:04,919

And that's a lot of rock bands here.

593

00:46:04,919 --> 00:46:09,121

People that I follow, smaller bands, are self-producing and stuff.

594

00:46:09,121 --> 00:46:11,092

So they don't get into a situation like that.

595

00:46:11,092 --> 00:46:14,083

If they sell music or people want to use their music or they want to

596

00:46:14,083 --> 00:46:17,445

to use their music, get their music out there, they have full rights.

597

00:46:17,445 --> 00:46:19,466

And I think that might be the best way to go now.

598

00:46:19,466 --> 00:46:26,089

Now with these big, I mean, obviously being joined to a massive music company, you're

going to get distribution that you can't get on your own.

599

00:46:26,089 --> 00:46:34,093

But to break through to that point, it seems like it's almost impossible, especially for

rock and roll music in North America right now.

600

00:46:34,093 --> 00:46:42,607

oh So that's a bit of like the behind the scenes kind of pull the curtain thing of the

song was perfect.

601

00:46:44,129 --> 00:46:46,389

use it but we ended up not being able to use it.

602

00:46:46,389 --> 00:46:48,749

One, know, $800 is not nothing.

603

00:46:49,329 --> 00:46:53,929

And they already pay for the rights of millions of these songs in this database.

604

00:46:53,929 --> 00:46:57,009

They're not going to pay for a song that we don't really need.

605

00:46:57,069 --> 00:47:00,929

I think it would have made the video better and so did Eric.

606

00:47:01,269 --> 00:47:07,110

And that's why we reached out to the guy that wrote the music and

607

00:47:07,110 --> 00:47:09,045

produced it, but in the end he didn't own it.

608

00:47:09,045 --> 00:47:15,673

So now that's a couple years back now and now he in the last year or two he's kind of made

it announced.

609

00:47:21,217 --> 00:47:26,566

And all of that was part of the thing that of straw that broke the camel's back, but I

feel like it was.

610

00:47:26,566 --> 00:47:28,348

And I mean, I hope he's doing well.

611

00:47:28,348 --> 00:47:29,179

We're not.

612

00:47:35,283 --> 00:47:42,961

is that he's in a better spot and at some point we can use another one of his songs and he

can just say yes and then.

613

00:47:45,451 --> 00:47:48,864

you just saw AW use guns at roses like that.

614

00:47:49,285 --> 00:47:53,249

I mean, I can't even imagine the price tag for the rights to be able to use that.

615

00:47:53,249 --> 00:47:53,849

It was funny.

616

00:47:53,849 --> 00:47:56,809

I was at the media scrum for that and I had asked Tony Khan.

617

00:47:56,809 --> 00:48:02,889

I was just like, you know, what do you think the impact is of being able to use like Guns

N' Roses, November rain for some of the hype packages?

618

00:48:02,889 --> 00:48:04,509

Because it's a well known song.

619

00:48:04,509 --> 00:48:06,069

It's not a song you got from the library.

620

00:48:06,069 --> 00:48:07,909

And he's just like, I thought it was great.

621

00:48:07,909 --> 00:48:08,889

I thought it great numbers.

622

00:48:08,889 --> 00:48:12,129

And you know, this is the first time that using Guns N' Roses, November rain.

623

00:48:12,129 --> 00:48:13,769

It's the first time they ever got paid for it.

624

00:48:13,769 --> 00:48:17,549

So don't know who he was slighting with that, but I was just like, I don't know.

625

00:48:19,149 --> 00:48:19,909

Yeah.

626

00:48:19,909 --> 00:48:22,921

It's cool though that you talk in that respect too, because

627

00:48:22,921 --> 00:48:29,857

And a lot of the times where I've worked with wrestlers and they end up going and using

themes all over the place, there's different things as a musician.

628

00:48:29,857 --> 00:48:39,714

got to understand, like you said, is, know, you, if you, if you're signed with a major

label, a lot of the times that major label owns the music, regardless of you did it, know,

629

00:48:39,755 --> 00:48:43,118

and if you've done the music, then you have the ability to say, you know what?

630

00:48:43,118 --> 00:48:43,998

You can use it here.

631

00:48:43,998 --> 00:48:45,310

can do custom contracts.

632

00:48:45,310 --> 00:48:46,541

You can do all those things.

633

00:48:46,541 --> 00:48:50,054

The distribution then comes down to you, right?

634

00:48:50,054 --> 00:48:51,989

The distribution comes down to you.

635

00:48:51,989 --> 00:48:53,669

the talent that's promoting it.

636

00:48:53,669 --> 00:49:00,011

And I will say though, and I've said this on so many different of these shows and

interviews and whatnot.

637

00:49:00,091 --> 00:49:03,252

You guys are like the nicest people in the world, wrestlers.

638

00:49:03,252 --> 00:49:13,035

I know that like there's everything that you see on TV and not to pull the wall so far

back, but like, I feel like musicians and wrestlers have this symbiotic relationship of a

639

00:49:13,035 --> 00:49:15,155

rising tide raises all boats.

640

00:49:15,155 --> 00:49:20,317

And you know, I know for me, my career in music wouldn't be where it was without

professional wrestling.

641

00:49:20,317 --> 00:49:21,117

And

642

00:49:21,589 --> 00:49:27,611

You know, I will say all the companies that I've worked with have always been really cool

once they understand the rights and things like that.

643

00:49:27,611 --> 00:49:33,052

There's always that, Hey, we need to make sure that X, Y, and Z is covered, not pulling

the wool back too much.

644

00:49:33,052 --> 00:49:41,595

But there's always things that as a musician who writes his own music produces it, and

then is licensing the contracts out, there are certain things that you kind of know you

645

00:49:41,595 --> 00:49:44,035

have to do and certain things that.

646

00:49:44,175 --> 00:49:46,776

You know, you know, that those songs won't be able to do.

647

00:49:46,776 --> 00:49:50,411

But the point is it's like, if you really want to do music like this.

648

00:49:50,411 --> 00:49:57,461

then there's a couple of ways right there is like reach out to talent and work on

one-on-one or like you said, there's these really great libraries that these companies are

649

00:49:57,461 --> 00:49:58,212

using now.

650

00:49:58,212 --> 00:50:04,171

And the music is great quality and just hope that if you're signed to a label that you can

go ahead and get the rights for it.

651

00:50:04,171 --> 00:50:06,204

Cause those can be costly.

652

00:50:06,204 --> 00:50:07,385

Absolutely.

653

00:50:07,745 --> 00:50:08,025

Yep.

654

00:50:08,025 --> 00:50:08,325

Yeah.

655

00:50:08,325 --> 00:50:09,105

Very tricky.

656

00:50:09,105 --> 00:50:13,505

mean, it's in the end, it's business and bureaucracy exists and everything.

657

00:50:13,505 --> 00:50:16,525

And the truth is that those checks and balances aren't in place.

658

00:50:16,525 --> 00:50:19,105

People are just stealing it.

659

00:50:19,945 --> 00:50:30,485

know, Guns N' Roses makes this amazing song and a company pays for the rights for it and

has the right to make money off of it because they're the ones paying Guns N' Roses and A

660

00:50:30,485 --> 00:50:32,465

&W just played it and they made no money.

661

00:50:32,465 --> 00:50:34,205

That's not fair to them.

662

00:50:34,741 --> 00:50:50,190

So like they said, I think with the invention of uh the digital music space and Spotify

and iTunes and databases like the one TNA and AW and WWE all use is there's this ability

663

00:50:50,190 --> 00:50:51,751

to get your stuff out.

664

00:50:51,751 --> 00:50:55,433

You've got to do all the work, but there are avenues for it.

665

00:50:55,433 --> 00:50:59,916

um I think a lot of artists don't like it.

666

00:50:59,916 --> 00:51:01,377

um

667

00:51:01,377 --> 00:51:06,084

especially big money artists, because they feel they were making more money when it wasn't

available to everybody.

668

00:51:06,084 --> 00:51:07,625

I understand that.

669

00:51:07,686 --> 00:51:12,392

But I think if they were in a different place, you know...

670

00:51:12,661 --> 00:51:23,975

for a band, a smaller band that doesn't have distribution like that and isn't connected to

a thing for whatever reason, they can put up a couple things and one of their tweets goes

671

00:51:23,975 --> 00:51:30,347

viral and next thing they know they've got 1.5 million listens on a track that no one even

knew about.

672

00:51:30,347 --> 00:51:33,348

oh it's, right, there's good and bad to it.

673

00:51:33,348 --> 00:51:37,519

um It's a, business can be an ugly world.

674

00:51:40,179 --> 00:51:44,322

My buddies in It Lives It Breathes always talk about the Will Ospreay theme that they did

elevated.

675

00:51:44,322 --> 00:51:50,386

And they were just like, you know, we wrote that for Will when he was out doing like Rev

Pro and doing some of like the more independent events.

676

00:51:50,386 --> 00:51:52,618

And he's taken that theme out to AEW.

677

00:51:52,618 --> 00:51:53,449

He's taken it to Wembley.

678

00:51:53,449 --> 00:51:54,740

He's taken it all over the place.

679

00:51:54,740 --> 00:52:02,605

And, you know, if you were to know the kind of like the backstory behind it and all that,

they would never have thought that that song would have transcended into what it is now.

680

00:52:02,605 --> 00:52:07,829

But, you you think about that and you go, if you're willing to work again in this artistic

681

00:52:07,829 --> 00:52:11,242

community environment and you're willing to go, you know what, let's work together.

682

00:52:11,242 --> 00:52:12,433

Let's grow together.

683

00:52:12,433 --> 00:52:13,744

Even if it's like, okay, cool.

684

00:52:13,744 --> 00:52:17,837

You don't have the marketing arm behind you of a record label.

685

00:52:17,837 --> 00:52:20,920

That wrestler goes places that wrestler does a lot.

686

00:52:20,920 --> 00:52:25,083

And you know, as wrestlers do, there's so many places that you guys go.

687

00:52:25,083 --> 00:52:28,896

So your music is going to get heard by so many people.

688

00:52:28,896 --> 00:52:34,861

And if you can really figure out the way to like really work with them and like you said,

create different things to where it's like, okay, cool.

689

00:52:34,861 --> 00:52:35,671

There's music videos.

690

00:52:35,671 --> 00:52:37,823

There's all different ways to promote.

691

00:52:37,823 --> 00:52:44,425

you can really still just be able to be symbiotically related to what happens with that

song and that wrestler.

692

00:52:44,425 --> 00:52:47,676

So it's an interesting dynamic to be that.

693

00:52:47,676 --> 00:52:51,297

Two more things, and then we will conclude our conversation here.

694

00:52:51,297 --> 00:52:57,618

I know that you said that the music that you have chosen is based on the character you

were portraying at the time.

695

00:52:57,618 --> 00:53:04,220

But to EY, all that aside, what is your favorite theme that you've used over time?

696

00:53:04,220 --> 00:53:07,889

And that could be either based on like, my musical taste is this.

697

00:53:07,889 --> 00:53:13,893

Or, you know what, this one was just so perfect for what we were doing that there's

nothing else that I would have chosen for it.

698

00:53:14,441 --> 00:53:17,752

Yeah, I mean, I think it's tough to pick that.

699

00:53:17,752 --> 00:53:20,264

Like, that's like saying, like, choose your favorite child.

700

00:53:20,264 --> 00:53:23,966

And I know, like, I was for sure the favorite more than my sister.

701

00:53:23,966 --> 00:53:27,098

Maybe she will.

702

00:53:27,098 --> 00:53:28,929

She'll think it's funny either which way.

703

00:53:29,890 --> 00:53:30,150

Yeah.

704

00:53:30,150 --> 00:53:37,574

Yeah, it's like, pick one of your I think the one that Dale did for when I first became

the world class maniac.

705

00:53:37,574 --> 00:53:43,647

Like that's part of that, I think, is the nostalgia of thinking of

706

00:53:44,511 --> 00:53:51,504

doors that opened for me, not the music itself, but as I was growing into that character

on the show.

707

00:53:51,504 --> 00:53:59,367

It's a very special song and the people I was working with at the time and where I was on

the card there.

708

00:53:59,787 --> 00:54:05,189

The NXT theme, the sanity theme, that's my first time working for the WWE.

709

00:54:05,189 --> 00:54:09,331

uh I would have never left NXT if given the choice.

710

00:54:09,331 --> 00:54:11,912

I didn't want to, that's just how it worked.

711

00:54:11,912 --> 00:54:14,619

uh I loved working for-

712

00:54:14,619 --> 00:54:24,825

a guy I still talk to, uh when given the chance, he's probably one of the busiest human

beings on the earth, so we don't chat a lot, but we do go back and forth still, and so

713

00:54:24,825 --> 00:54:26,096

have really good relationship.

714

00:54:26,096 --> 00:54:39,664

uh But, right now, mean, recently by us too, but I love Johnny Cash, and I love that song

that he covered by Nine Inch Nails, Hurt, having that sample in it.

715

00:54:41,281 --> 00:54:45,681

as part of it and I was very involved in the way this one sounds.

716

00:54:46,061 --> 00:54:47,941

Eric Tompkins is the one that found it.

717

00:54:47,941 --> 00:54:49,861

That complete credit goes to him.

718

00:54:50,221 --> 00:54:54,941

I had kind of picked a different one and then he said, just listen to this one.

719

00:54:54,941 --> 00:55:06,001

It maybe isn't like babyface music, but it feels like star music and when I hear it, it

just makes me feel like I'm important and I don't think that I am, but in that time, when

720

00:55:06,001 --> 00:55:10,581

I come through that curtain, I should feel like the most important person on earth.

721

00:55:11,115 --> 00:55:15,049

People don't want to regular boring me.

722

00:55:15,049 --> 00:55:17,071

People want to watch an elevated version.

723

00:55:17,071 --> 00:55:21,235

And that song can put me in that set.

724

00:55:21,235 --> 00:55:25,879

And I've done a lot of things and been around for a long time and have a ton of equity.

725

00:55:26,460 --> 00:55:28,873

mean, lots of people don't like what I do because it's art.

726

00:55:28,873 --> 00:55:30,185

And that's fine.

727

00:55:30,185 --> 00:55:31,865

There's lots of music that I don't.

728

00:55:33,921 --> 00:55:34,681

goes.

729

00:55:34,681 --> 00:55:48,781

Um, but I think I've, I've heard the respect of being like, you know, he's done a bunch of

stuff because I have, and that song is one of my favorites because it makes me feel how I

730

00:55:48,781 --> 00:55:50,701

should, if that makes sense.

731

00:55:50,701 --> 00:55:50,981

Yeah.

732

00:55:50,981 --> 00:55:54,321

When I'm coming out, you know, there's 3000 people there.

733

00:55:54,321 --> 00:56:03,641

And I say this in seminars sometimes too, that I do, you know, that music is important and

it might be the only time in your life, except maybe your wedding or

734

00:56:04,179 --> 00:56:08,332

time where you have a whole room looking at you.

735

00:56:08,593 --> 00:56:10,995

The only time in your life that may happen.

736

00:56:11,076 --> 00:56:16,180

Every eyeball, you're not sharing it, you know, maybe with your tag partner, but I mean if

it's singles.

737

00:56:16,177 --> 00:56:17,818

That's what that song makes me feel like.

738

00:56:17,818 --> 00:56:22,422

It's like how they have the lights set up and the entrance and the timing of it.

739

00:56:22,422 --> 00:56:26,004

I got to get up on the apron at a certain time and all that stuff is thought through.

740

00:56:26,004 --> 00:56:30,948

But I think what that does is creates a mood and it creates a setting.

741

00:56:30,948 --> 00:56:41,385

And when that music plays in my mind and I'm hoping other people's minds is like, you're

going to get something good no matter what, because I've been doing it at a high level for

742

00:56:41,385 --> 00:56:42,736

so long and I've proven that.

743

00:56:42,736 --> 00:56:44,067

And I think that that's

744

00:56:44,999 --> 00:56:45,499

I agree.

745

00:56:45,499 --> 00:56:50,542

And I interviewed Dijak recently and he said a similar thing kind of that you're echoing

about the confidence piece, right?

746

00:56:50,542 --> 00:56:57,746

He's just like, you know, your music can be whatever your music is, but you have to be

confident when you go through the curtain.

747

00:56:57,746 --> 00:57:02,479

When you hear that, you got to be able to sell what you're doing.

748

00:57:02,479 --> 00:57:03,340

And he goes, same thing.

749

00:57:03,340 --> 00:57:05,917

He goes, when I go to seminars, I tell people that all the time.

750

00:57:05,917 --> 00:57:07,728

He's like, the music has to represent you.

751

00:57:07,728 --> 00:57:08,859

It's got to get you in the mood.

752

00:57:08,859 --> 00:57:10,220

It's got to get you in that mode.

753

00:57:10,220 --> 00:57:14,151

But as soon as you go through that curtain, people got to believe that you believe.

754

00:57:14,151 --> 00:57:18,995

If that's not happening, then no one's going to believe anything that you're doing.

755

00:57:18,995 --> 00:57:25,549

goes, you you don't have people that come to wrestling shows going, I hope I hear this

piece of music.

756

00:57:25,549 --> 00:57:27,540

What they do is they want to see the wrestlers.

757

00:57:27,540 --> 00:57:32,283

And if that piece of music is something that makes you feel confident and inversely,

758

00:57:32,283 --> 00:57:39,119

If you're able to sell the whole package in that music you're confident with, like, you

know what, I'm going through that curtain, let's make it happen.

759

00:57:39,119 --> 00:57:42,381

That's just going to sell your character even more to the audience.

760

00:57:42,601 --> 00:57:42,921

Yeah.

761

00:57:42,921 --> 00:57:44,621

Such a huge part of the experience.

762

00:57:44,621 --> 00:57:50,681

Like I said, like if they're there to see the wrestling in the end, they were the belt,

they want the belt to ring and they want there to be a match.

763

00:57:50,681 --> 00:57:51,241

Yeah.

764

00:57:51,241 --> 00:58:00,781

But if there isn't these cool themes and cool entrances and you know, for lack of a better

word, costumes or whatever you want to call them, you know, that's all part of it.

765

00:58:00,781 --> 00:58:02,941

And it's, you know, there's just nothing like it.

766

00:58:02,941 --> 00:58:04,761

It's just all encompassing.

767

00:58:04,961 --> 00:58:12,821

And if you don't get those elements, even like to a person that would be new to it, I

think they would feel ripped off because they know

768

00:58:12,903 --> 00:58:18,575

That's been, mean, music has just been a part of it for hundreds of years now.

769

00:58:18,575 --> 00:58:30,981

And it's such an important now with how highly it's produced and like, it being on

Netflix, know, raw Netflix the other day, I mean, it's one of the best produced things

770

00:58:30,981 --> 00:58:34,002

I've seen ever, period, full stop, right?

771

00:58:34,002 --> 00:58:39,864

Like not TV, not movie, one of the best produced pieces of entertainment ever.

772

00:58:40,365 --> 00:58:41,745

the world is...

773

00:58:42,025 --> 00:58:48,745

finding something out that I think you knew as a wrestling fan and I knew as a wrestling

fan, wrestling is unreal.

774

00:58:49,385 --> 00:58:59,385

It's just this unreal world and unreal thing that we all get to do and the real world is

figuring out that it's awesome too, right?

775

00:58:59,385 --> 00:59:03,865

It's a billion dollar industry, multi-billion dollar industry.

776

00:59:04,165 --> 00:59:06,119

It's wild to think, it's wild.

777

00:59:06,119 --> 00:59:10,113

so happy to see where wrestling has come over the last, like you said, hundreds of years.

778

00:59:10,113 --> 00:59:15,467

And it's just, you know, they've called it the King sport and where it is now is just

absolutely amazing.

779

00:59:15,467 --> 00:59:20,801

And the last question I have for you before we conclude here and I ask everyone who comes

on this show.

780

00:59:21,102 --> 00:59:29,489

If you were to give people three songs that represent Eric Young as a person that you

throw on a Spotify playlist and you say, Hey, listen to these three songs.

781

00:59:29,489 --> 00:59:31,931

And this gives you a full feel of who I am.

782

00:59:31,931 --> 00:59:34,343

What are those three songs that it would be?

783

00:59:35,617 --> 00:59:36,497

geez.

784

00:59:36,718 --> 00:59:38,369

I think that would depend on when you catch me.

785

00:59:38,369 --> 00:59:40,180

It's pretty early in the morning.

786

00:59:41,421 --> 00:59:42,942

Not early, but early enough for me.

787

00:59:42,942 --> 00:59:46,084

ah Colors by Black Pumas.

788

00:59:46,225 --> 00:59:52,999

I'm a person that ah I want everyone to get along and be inclusive and be included in

everything.

789

00:59:52,999 --> 01:00:00,635

And I think the weird barriers that people have put up that still exist somehow in 2025

are archaic and stupid.

790

01:00:00,635 --> 01:00:03,116

So colors by a brand called Black Pumas, which I love.

791

01:00:03,116 --> 01:00:04,577

ah

792

01:00:07,079 --> 01:00:07,869

Huh.

793

01:00:08,872 --> 01:00:09,853

Three.

794

01:00:15,177 --> 01:00:16,381

And let me think.

795

01:00:16,406 --> 01:00:17,431

I would say...

796

01:00:17,431 --> 01:00:19,361

ah

797

01:00:22,729 --> 01:00:32,129

anything by the testy brothers because the guys Voice just makes me feel good I can tie

I've seen up like three times live and they're just as good live as they are recorded

798

01:00:32,129 --> 01:00:35,429

which is as a musician You know is can be rare.

799

01:00:35,469 --> 01:00:45,769

Yeah And I don't know if we get to where I'll just say after you I won't do what you told

me by Rage Against Machine because I don't like people telling me what to do

800

01:00:47,261 --> 01:00:50,838

And it's not an official list if you don't throw a rage against the machine on there.

801

01:00:51,369 --> 01:00:55,911

Yeah, well, I have to include Rage because I think they're probably my favorite band of

all time.

802

01:00:56,105 --> 01:00:56,596

That's awesome.

803

01:00:56,596 --> 01:00:57,567

Yeah, they're amazing.

804

01:00:57,567 --> 01:00:59,910

And I think anyone would tell you that.

805

01:00:59,910 --> 01:01:02,282

Well, EY, thank you so much for making the time today.

806

01:01:02,282 --> 01:01:04,595

It's been such an honor having you on the show.

807

01:01:04,595 --> 01:01:07,338

You've been someone I wanted to talk to for quite some time.

808

01:01:07,338 --> 01:01:09,981

And I thank you so much for hanging out with us today.

809

01:01:10,537 --> 01:01:11,017

Cheers, man.

810

01:01:11,017 --> 01:01:12,292

You us wanting to chit chat.