History SuspiciouslySimilarSong / ProfessionalWrestling

* Victoria had previously used Music/{{Tatu}}'s "All the Things She Said" but was given a lyrics-less cover version for video games and DVD releases.

** And his current heel theme is a JHV of Knife Party's "Bonfire", which is a little bit silly considering WWE licensed that track for their 2K15 video game.

* Rich Swann's WWE theme "Around the World" ([[RefrainFromAssuming not "Can You Handle It?"]]) is likely inspired by Music/JamesBrown's "Living in America" from ''Film/RockyIV'' and/or Mark Ronson and Music/BrunoMars' "Uptown Funk".

* Wrestling/SamiZayn's newest theme "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cjKOoEP6QI Worlds Apart]]" has an intro that sounds very similar to "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YowSB2cJH1c Ole]]" by the Bouncing Souls. Which would make sense considering what his well-known previous gimmick was.

* Wrestling/DrewMcIntyre's "Broken Dreams" sounds very similar to Music/{{Metallica}}'s cover of Music/BobSeger's "Turn the Page".

* Some infamous JHV's from Wrestling/{{WCW}}: "Come As You Are" by Music/{{Nirvana}} (Wrestling/{{Raven}}), "Even Flow" by Music/PearlJam (Wrestling/ChrisJericho, mostly heel run), "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Music/{{Nirvana}} ([[Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage DDP]]), "War" by Edwin Starr (Misfits in Action), "The Zoo" by Music/{{Scorpions}} (The First Family), "Purple Rain" by Music/{{Prince}} (Prince Iaukea), "Cowboy" by Music/KidRock (Wrestling/JeffJarrett), "Beautiful People" by Music/MarilynManson (Wrestling/PerrySaturn[=/=]Revolution), "Perfect Strangers" by Music/DeepPurple (Wrestling/ShaneDouglas) "Party Up (Up in Here)" by Music/{{DMX}} (Wrestling/ElixSkipper - something he carried with him in TNA), "Burn" by Music/NineInchNails (David Flair) and "Crazy Train" by Music/OzzyOsbourne (David Kalla).

* Wrestling/MargaretTiger's 1996-1997 theme in Maple Leaf Grappling was similar to "Hammer Smashed Face" by Music/CannibalCorpse.

* [[Wrestling/TheRevival FTR's]] first theme "Old School Raised" was a JHV for their WWE theme "Southern Proud" with both starting off with the words "SAY YEAH". Their second theme "Darkside of TR", was a homage to Wrestling/TheMidnightExpress' theme, ''itself'' a JHV of Giorgio Moroder's "Chase" theme from [[Film/MidnightExpress the film of the same name]].

* FTR's first theme "Old School Raised" was a JHV for the WWE theme "Southern Proud" with both starting off with the words "SAY YEAH". Their second theme "Darkside of TR", was a homage to Giorgio Moroder's "Chase" theme from the ''Film/MidnightExpress'', which also had a earlier JHV used by [[Wrestling/TheMidnightExpress the tag team of the same name]].

* Wrestling/DustinRhodes's theme in AEW is extremely similar to Music/GreenDay's "Brain Stew" with hints of Luniz & Michael Marshall's "I Got 5 It".

* [[Wrestling/ToniStorm Toni Storm]]'s theme is primarily based on Heart's "Barracuda", with elements of [[Music/LedZeppelin Led Zeppelin]]'s "Immigrant Song", Dokken's "Kiss of Death" and Marty Friedman's "Saturation Point".

* [[Wrestling/ToniStorm]]'s theme is primarily based on Heart's "Barracuda", with elements of [[Music/LedZeppelin]]'s "Immigrant Song", Dokken's "Kiss of Death" and Marty Friedman's "Saturation Point".

* Wrestling/DustinRhodes's theme in AEW is extremely similar to Music/GreenDay's "Brain Stew."

* [[Wrestling/PeytonRoyce The]] [[Wrestling/BillieKay IIconics]]' theme [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOQ0TuqTRY0 "Femme Fatale"]] has some similarities to the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pRC65AbcK8&list=PLkpN6XM4MafRIMI1slpDSJl-xCQUGhI7T&index=44 "Desert Island 4"]] soundtrack from ''[[Videogame/{{Croc}} Croc: Legend Of The Gobbos]]''. It's highly unlikely that it was intentional, given how obscure the video game is.

* Ricky Starks theme is a Bourbon St./Roots-flavored "Touch the Sky" by Wrestling/KanyeWest.
* Eddie Kingston's "Cold World" is Music/{{DMX}}'s "Slippin" and "Stop Bein Greedy" with a VideoGames/Castlevania riff.

* Invoked for AEW according to composer Mikey Rukus who mentioned that many of talent want soundalikes of whatever theme they used on the indies.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Others]]
* Kyoko Inoue's theme that she used in [[Wrestling/AllJapanWomensProWrestling AJW]] is a JHV of "Panama" by Music/VanHalen which was her entrance theme for a bit in the early '90s.
* Wrestling/MargaretTiger's 1996-1997 theme in Maple Leaf Grappling was similar to "Hammer Smashed Face" by Music/CannibalCorpse.
* Wrestling/RingOfHonor's even started this: the music for their [=HDNet=] television show bears a remarkable resemblance to Velvet Revolver's "Slither". Oddly enough, Ring of Honor never attempted this after the Internet outcry over Wrestling/BryanDanielson having to drop "The Final Countdown". Then again, lemonade was made from this lemon, as the emotional effect when it was brought back for special "off-camera" moments, ''especially'' at his last hurrah. A suspiciously synthesizer-heavy version was used for his entrances on Ring of Honor's TV show, however.
* Wrestling/RingOfHonor wrestler Wrestling/DaltonCastle's theme is very similar to an instrumental version of Music/{{Queen}}'s [[https://youtu.be/hFDcoX7s6rE "I Want It All"]]. Composer Adam Massacre actually titled it [[https://youtu.be/WlNXVjgvbTo "Dalton Wants It Now"]], an unusually direct acknowledgment.

* Wrestling/DGenerationX's theme is a lyrical JHV of Music/RageAgainstTheMachine's "Killing in the Name". The lyrics both speak of rebellion. Compare the DX theme's "We just got tired of doing what we're told what to do" to these words of RATM's song, "And now you do what they told ya," and "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me! Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!"

* The same thing happened with Wrestling/BallsMahoney. [[InNameOnly The Sandman]], too...but not so much (it DOES bear some resemblance to Music/{{Metallica}}'s "Enter Sandman", but again, not so much). With "Enter Sandman" it was a necessity. Metallica charges $5-6 ''million'' just for the use of that one song. ECW used to have a cover version on hand just in case.

* Wrestling/{{Christian}}'s Waterproof Blonde version of "Just Close Your Eyes", later covered by Story of the Year and Bedlam's Gate, is itself actually the live-band-recording Jimmy Hart Composite of two of his previous themes, "At Last" (which itself--in an earlier iteration--was a suspiciously similar song of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Music/{{Queen}}) and "Blood Brother". Of course, one could just claim that it's a JHV of "My Last Breath" by Evanescence like his TNA theme afterwards was.

* WWF made the interesting choice to remix a public domain theme in the early '90s when they gave Wrestling/RicFlair a JHV of "Also Sprach Zarathustra".

* Wrestling/HulkHogan's 2010 TNA theme is basically the original Wrestling/NewWorldOrder theme. (And during his debut, he explicitly referred to the nWo in all but name, while talking with Wrestling/ScottHall, Wrestling/KevinNash, Wrestling/SeanWaltman and Wrestling/EricBischoff). That song actually was originally recorded by Hart in WCW, as the theme song for nWo 2000, but they ended up using the original "Rockhouse" by Frank Shelley instead. "Rockhouse" itself of course if a JHV of a couple Music/JimiHendrix tunes...
** The TNA version of the NWO theme was actually officially used by WCW in video games WCW Nitro, WCW/NWO Thunder, and WCW Mayhem.
* Eric Bischoff's TNA theme was actually a JHV of his WCW theme, which itself was an edited version of the track "White Train" from the Desperado soundtrack.

* [[Wrestling/{{EC3}} Ethan Carter III]] in TNA was given a theme song that is a JHV of Fall Out Boy's "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)".
* In Impact, Wrestling/RichSwann got '''another''' "Uptown Funk" ripoff called "Welcome To the Party".

* Wrestling/DustinRhodes theme in Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling is extremely similar to Green Day's Brain Stew.
* Wrestling/JakeRoberts' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q81EW2fw6Y AEW theme]] is definitely a take on his old WWF "Snake Bit" theme.
* Wrestling/DeanMalenko has an Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYTzsC5vxpQ theme]] that's definitely a call back to his WCW entry theme.

* Speaking of former ECW guys, Tommy Dreamer's WWE theme is suspiciously similar to his original ECW music, "Man in the Box" by Music/AliceInChains. The humorous thing about that song is its official WWE name is [[strike:"Boxed Man"]] "Bad Dream".

* Wrestling/BookerT's theme sound awfully similar to Music/{{Kraftwerk}}'s "Musique Non Stop", especially when it comes to the echoing "Yes/No" vocals.

** WWF did this in the early '90s when they gave Wrestling/RicFlair a JHV of "Also Sprach Zarathustra".

* Eric Bischoff's debut theme in WWE was Music/{{ACDC}}'s "Back in Black", but he used a JHV called "I'm Back" by Ted Nigro for every subsequent appearance. His TNA theme sounded a lot like [[Music/TedNugent "Stranglehold."]]
** His TNA theme was actually a JHV of his WCW theme, which itself was an edited version of the track "White Train" from the Desperado soundtrack.

* The original ECW did this too sometimes... see: Taz's music morphing from the actual "War Machine" by KISS to a JHV, to his "Survive If I Let You" theme that used the opening riff to the JH War Machine and then a completely different melody.
* Speaking of ECW, Steve Corino's theme "The Old School Style" by Boner took the opening from "Come with Me" by Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page (which Corino used previously) and turned it into a heavy metal instrumental with a different melody after the opening.
* WWE Diva Wrestling/MickieJames' entrance theme is pretty obviously a suspiciously similar song of "My Sharona" by The Knack and "Mickey" by Toni Basil.
* Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}'s entrance theme in WWE was a suspiciously similar song of his original WCW entrance theme (an awesome piece of stock music), due to the rights to the song not being available.

* Wrestling/RingOfHonor's even started this: the music for their [=HDNet=] television show bears a remarkable resemblance to Velvet Revolver's "Slither". Oddly enough, Ring of Honor never attempted this after the Internet outcry over Wrestling/BryanDanielson having to drop "The Final Countdown". Then again, lemonade was made from this lemon, as the emotional effect when it was brought back for special "off-camera" moments, ''especially'' at his last hurrah. A suspiciously synthesizer-heavy version was used for his entrances on Ring of Honor's TV show, however.
* As it turns out, WCW using this trope has probably saved WWE a ton of headaches, as they (usually) haven't had to bother with editing music on their archived WCW broadcasts, and certainly not to the same extent as they've had to self-edit. Most of the replacement songs for WWE versions aren't even this trope in action, as they're usually not even close to the original pieces.
* The Other Wiki once had a list of songs of which TNA composer Dale Oliver has made suspiciously similar songs on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Oliver Oliver's article]]. The list was rather long, but has since been removed.
** [[Wrestling/CurtHennig Mr. Perfect's]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VynCL_BbPK4 "I Am the Champion"]] easily takes the cake, hands down. Its riff is basically the same as the guitar solo at the end of Music/{{Queen}}'s "We Will Rock You", while the lyrics are a lyrical JHV of Queen's "We Are the Champions" (see the title?).
* TNA's classic "Cross the Line" theme music is basically just "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven.
* The opening of Wrestling/SamoaJoe's theme is a JHV of the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' theme, which he used as an opening riff for his entrance songs on the indies.
** His NXT theme is a JHV of "Simon Says" by Pharoahe Monch, which samples said Godzilla theme.
* Wrestling/HulkHogan's 2010 TNA theme is basically the original Wrestling/NewWorldOrder theme. (And during his debut, he explicitly referred to the nWo in all but name, while talking with Wrestling/ScottHall, Wrestling/KevinNash, Wrestling/SeanWaltman and Wrestling/EricBischoff). That song actually was originally recorded by Hart in WCW, as the theme song for nWo 2000, but they ended up using the original "Rockhouse" by Frank Shelley instead. "Rockhouse" itself of course if a JHV of a couple Music/JimiHendrix tunes...
** The TNA version of the NWO theme was actually officially used by WCW in video games WCW Nitro, WCW/NWO Thunder, and WCW Mayhem.
* Wrestling/{{Christian}} Cage's TNA theme was originally a virtual note-for-note rip of the Music/{{Evanescence}} song "My Last Breath". It changed midway through his TNA run, perhaps for that very reason...
* Wrestling/AngelinaLove's last TNA theme, "Unhinged", is pretty much a JHV of "Papercut" by Music/LinkinPark, the song she still uses in the indies.
* Similar to Angelina, one of Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels' first TNA themes, which later became his ROH TV theme upon his return there in 2010, was a JHV of his ROH/indy theme, Music/MarilynManson's "Disposable Teens".
* Wrestling/{{Sting}}'s original TNA theme was a poor man's "Seek and Destroy", hence the title "Stingellica" and the switch to something else once he became a regular in 2006.

* Wrestling/HulkHogan's first WCW theme, "American Made", was an obvious JHV of his WWF theme "Real American".
** It also sounds a lot like Saxon's "Wheels of Steel" which might have been the original inspiration for "Real American" too.
** The song "American Made" is on an album called ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWaiYy7e0PY Hulk Rules!]]'' by Hulk Hogan and the Wrestling Boot Band, which featured Hogan rapping. Most notable is "I Wanna Be a Hulkamaniac", which is a JHV of Wrestling/OwenHart's original entrance music. The title track is a JHV of Wrestling/TheNastyBoys' WWE theme, sung appropriately enough by Hart himself, who did a few songs on the album.

* The Outsiders' pre-nWo theme music in WCW was a JHV of "Crazy" by Music/{{Seal}}. It's especially obvious when one discovers that the JHV was titled "Craz''ed''".

* ECW's original theme song, "This Is Extreme" has its main riff similar to the main riff of [[Music/RobZombie White Zombie's]] "More Human Than Human".

* Kyoko Inoue's theme that she used in [[Wrestling/AllJapanWomensProWrestling AJW]] is a JHV of "Panama" by Music/VanHalen which was her entrance theme for a bit in the early '90s.

* Wrestling/RickRude was guilty of this three times. His first theme in WWF was a knockoff of "The Stripper". When he headed to WCW he used a knockoff of Janet Jackson's "Black Cat", and his final theme, "Simply Ravishing" was very similar to Whitney Houston's "How Will I Know" (complete with a Whitney soundalike on vocals).
* The theme song that Wrestling/JustinGabriel and Wrestling/HeathSlater used for a short period in 2011 had an opening similar to Skillet's "Awake & Alive."
** Justin Gabriel's face solo theme sounds a little like the Killers' "Somebody Told Me".
** And his current heel theme is a JHV of Knife Party's "Bonfire", which is a little bit silly considering WWE licensed that track for their 2K15 video game.
* [[Wrestling/{{EC3}} Ethan Carter III]] in TNA was given a theme song that is a JHV of Fall Out Boy's "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)".
* Believe it or not, the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]] [[EnemyCivilWar Wolfpac]]'s infamous rap theme song is actually a JHV of "Burn" by Militia (a little-known rap group), which the Wolfpac used as their theme at house shows.
* Wrestling/TheRoadWarriors used a JHV of [[Music/BlackSabbath Black Sabbath's]] "Iron Man" while in {{Wrestling/WCW}}. They actually used the real thing during some points of their career.

* Wrestling/BookerT's theme sound awfully similar to Music/{{Kraftwerk}}'s "Musique Non Stop", especially when it comes to the echoing "Yes/No" vocals.

* Wrestling/RingOfHonor wrestler Wrestling/DaltonCastle's theme is very similar to an instrumental version of Music/{{Queen}}'s [[https://youtu.be/hFDcoX7s6rE "I Want It All"]]. Composer Adam Massacre actually titled it [[https://youtu.be/WlNXVjgvbTo "Dalton Wants It Now"]], an unusually direct acknowledgment.
* Wrestling/{{Carmella}}'s theme [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxUsghSwskg "Fabulous"]] is an obvious knock-off of Music/IggyAzalea's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-zpOMYRi0w "Fancy"]]. Makes sense, given the fact that the word "Fabulous" is essentially a synonym to "Fancy", and that Carmella's gimmick is heavily Iggy Azalea inspired.
* WWE's theme for the ''Money in the Bank'' event since 2011 is a JHV of "For the Love of Money" by The O'Jays, intentionally as the former was originally written as a theme tune for Creator/DonaldTrump during his 2007 feud with Wrestling/VinceMcMahon while the latter was the theme tune for Trump's show ''Series/TheApprentice''.
* TNA Lockdown 2007 theme is a JHV of "Numb" by Music/LinkinPark.

* ''Wrestling/WWESmackDown'''s "I Want It All" is a JHV of Eminem's "White America".

* Rich Swann's WWE theme "Around the World" ([[RefrainFromAssuming not "Can You Handle It?"]]) is likely inspired by Music/JamesBrown's "Living in America" from ''Film/RockyIV'' and/or Mark Ronson and Music/BrunoMars' "Uptown Funk".

* Wrestling/BillieKay's theme [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOQ0TuqTRY0 "Femme Fatale"]] has some similarities to the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pRC65AbcK8&list=PLkpN6XM4MafRIMI1slpDSJl-xCQUGhI7T&index=44 "Desert Island 4"]] soundtrack from ''[[Videogame/{{Croc}} Croc: Legend Of The Gobbos]]''. It's highly unlikely that it was intentional, given how obscure the video game is.

* Wrestling/DustinRhodes theme in Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling is extremely similar to Green Day's Brain Stew.

* Wrestling/MargaretTiger's 1996-1997 theme in Maple Leaf Grappling was similar to "Hammer Smashed Face" by Music/CannibalCorpse.

* Wrestling/AlexWright's first theme under the Berlyn gimmick was basically the "O Fortuna" section of Music/CarminaBurana, only female-sang and with different lyrics.

* Wrestling/KurtAngle's TNA theme "My Quest" (and its remix "Gold Metal") was deliberately based on "Lunatic Fringe" by Red Rider.

* Some infamous JHV's from Wrestling/{{WCW}}: "Come As You Are" by Music/{{Nirvana}} (Wrestling/{{Raven}}), "Even Flow" by Music/PearlJam (Wrestling/ChrisJericho, mostly heel run), "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Music/{{Nirvana}} ([[Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage DDP]]), "War" by Edwin Starr (Misfits in Action), "The Zoo" by Music/{{Scorpions}} (The First Family), "Purple Rain" by Music/{{Prince}} (Prince Iaukea), "Cowboy" by Music/KidRock (Wrestling/JeffJarrett), "Beautiful People" by Music/MarilynManson (Wrestling/PerrySaturn[=/=]Revolution), "Perfect Strangers" by Music/DeepPurple (Wrestling/ShaneDouglas) "Party Up (Up in Here)" by Music/{{DMX}} (Elix Skipper- something he carried with him in TNA), "Burn" by Music/NineInchNails (David Flair) and "Crazy Train" by Music/OzzyOsbourne (David Kalla).

* Wrestling/DeanMalenko has an Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYTzsC5vxpQ theme]] that's definitely a call back to his WCW entry theme.