Hi Everyone!

I'm always grateful to have written with It Lives, It Breathes on Brian Myers entrance theme The Ride and the with legendary Downstait to collaborate on Matt Cardona and Brian Myers tag team theme Major Players was another dream come true. Brian Myers and I finally have a conversation, on camera, for y'all to talk about entrance themes.

Brian Myers joins me on this episode to talk about our collaboration on his entrance theme The Ride and Major Players, as well as discuss his themes over the course of his career from TNA to WWE as Curt Hawkins, Brian Myers, and The System.

We also talk about how his and Matt Cardona fka Zack Ryder battled to have a different entrance theme during their tag team time in WWE and how he feels their theme impacted their run.

We also discuss how he talks about entrance themes with his students at Create A Pro Wrestling.

We also play our favorite game on the show, Music City Rumble, and Brian Myers names the musicians he'd book in a wrestling match: one men's match, one women's match, and one tag team match!

Enjoy!

Brian's Themes:

🎧 The Ride: https://youtu.be/bvmlYHpY2Hg?si=-lUCf6gKOMuzx6OD

🎧 Major Players: https://youtu.be/Sp2fT45fDhM?si=VUaeq634Ag86JPVb

🎧 The System: https://youtu.be/irPzuQQZEC4?si=kaSdIw5XhFf1-UF_

🎧 Check out Major Wrestling Figure Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@majorwfpod

🎄Donate the most wrestling figures and win the Major Toy Drive Championship! 🎄

Head over to WrestlingFigures.com, buy as many figures as you’re able, enter in the address listed in the graphic (free shipping) and if you spend more than anyone else, you win!

LINK: http://wrestlingfigures.com/

Address: Major Toy Drive

PO Box 339

Merrick NY 11566

🎧 Check out Create A Pro Wrestling: https://createaprowrestling.com

Chapters:

0:00 - Intro

4:40 - What Are The Most Important Things In An Entrance Theme?

8:56 - CFO$ Themes

11:30 - Best Entrance Themes in 2025

13:52 - How Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder's Tag Team Theme Affected Their WWE Run

18:38 - Brian Myers WWE Return and Speaking with Jim Johnston for His Theme

21:19 - John Kiernan and It Lives It Breathes, and Brian Myers on Writing His Entrance Theme The Ride

25:20 - John Kiernan, Downstait, and Matt Cardona and Brian Myers on Writing Their Entrance Theme Major Players

26:19 - Funny Story about Entrance Theme Mix Up With The Dudley Boys

28:22 - Create A Pro and Talking To The Students About Entrance Themes

29:54 - John Kiernan on Writing Leo Sparrow's Theme

31:00 - Who To Go To For Custom Entrance Music

31:28 - The System TNA Entrance Theme with Chris Bey and Monteasy

34:00 - Brian Myers on Being Grateful For His Entrance Themes

35:04 - Music City Rumble

39:50 - What Three Songs Define The Man Brian Myers

-

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About The Show:

Do you like wrestling? Do you like music and stories from the road? Join John Kiernan, wrestling entrance theme song composer, and professional musician of over 10 years for stories and interviews with your favorite wrestlers, rock stars, and personalities!

About the Host:

John Kiernan is a wrestling entrance theme song composer with over 150 themes written for wrestlers in various promotions such as NJPW, WWE, ROH, MLW, and many more. As a professional musician, a veteran in the podcasting space, an avid pro wrestling fan and wrestling personality by way of creating the soundtracks for your favorite wrestlers, John Kiernan forges his latest podcasting venture into diving into stories of music, stories from the road, and wrestling from all walks of life from your (and his) favorites of all time.

Are you looking for a custom wrestling entrance theme or walk out music?

Contact via email at johnkiernanmusic@gmail.com. Or fill out this form here! https://johnkiernanmusic.com/custom-wrestler-entrance-themes/#contact

Take a listen to my themes!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIkQOXc7x9NFiIHsYDov27nsUJpcIYJ49

Social media:

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#music #wrestling #ropesnriffs #johnkiernan

I'm realizing, man, I've been really blessed because like to come out the edges song and

your guys theme for me and the system theme, you know, it's been pretty cool.

2

when the first time I was on the Indies, I would have to like, make it a point, like, do

not play.

3

Like, I just didn't want to hear like disciple or I didn't want to be the guy who I

thought like, when am going to be like in my edge tights doing like

4

Indie shows until I'm 50, whatever.

5

I didn't want to be that guy.

6

I wanted to keep going and keep reinventing and keep moving.

7

So like, if I forgot to tell them to play that and they played that, I'd be behind the

curtain like, shit.

8

And that was always on me, right?

9

That's my fault.

10

I forgot.

11

But now it's like, you almost can't make that mistake.

12

If you play the system song, I'm happy.

13

If you play the ride, I'm happy.

14

You can't really make me cringe around the curtain anymore because there's so many good

options.

15

It's time once again for another episode of the Ropes and Riffs podcast.

16

I am Jon, I am your resident entrance theme song composer.

17

And this is actually kind of an interesting interview because the first guest I ever

actually recorded for the show was Brian Myers, who, for many of you who may know, I

18

worked with It Lives It Breathes to create his theme, The Ride, that you hear in TNA, as

well as worked with Downstate.

19

for the major players theme that he does when he tag teams with one Matt Cardona.

20

as the show started and I went to go release that episode, the episode had what we call in

the tech world, technical issues.

21

I'm gonna blame the technology for this, that episode is up in the ether somewhere.

22

There's parts and fragments of it, but it is out there now.

23

But Brian was awesome enough to say, you know what, let's go ahead and hop on another one

and let's deliver another interview for you.

24

So this is version two of the Brian Myers episode one year later.

25

Brian and I talk all about the different themes he's had over time, how he talks to his

creative pro students at the wrestling school that he runs.

26

about how to think about entrance themes and what that looks like.

27

And also he takes us through his entire journey of entrance themes all the way from then

to

28

As always, Brian tackles the Music City Rumble where he gets to pit musician against

musician in one men's singles match, one women's singles match, and one tag team match

29

where the musicians pit it out in the squared circle.

30

And then we also asked Brian Myers what the songs that would define him as a person would

be and what he would throw on that playlist.

31

So I hope you enjoy this episode with Brian Myers.

32

This is one of the episodes that means the most to me because again, he was the first

person who we recorded for this,

33

But also, Brian's theme, The Ride, was one of the first themes that I think, for me, ended

up making it into the mainstream.

34

And Brian's been a favorite of mine for years, even before I got to use, even before he

and I, even before we wrote his theme.

35

So for me, this one's a really special interview for me, and I hope you enjoy it.

36

Check out the Ropes and Riffs podcast, anywhere you listen to podcasts, Apple Podcasts,

Spotify, YouTube, all those different places.

37

Drop a comment, drop a five star review over there, and any comments we'll go ahead and

read out on the show here.

38

And you can support the show by donating over on PayPal to at Ropes and Riffs.

39

And any donation of $10 or more gets you a shout out on the show.

40

And without any further ado, here's my interview with Brian Myers.

41

You know him by many names.

42

You know him from the podcast.

43

You know him from everything because he's been everywhere and has done everything.

44

My guest today is the one and only Brian Myers.

45

Thank you for hanging out with us today.

46

And it's funny too, because I introduce you like this now, although you were the first

person to ever come on the show, but then your boy turned around and said, Hey, technical

47

problems.

48

I'll let happen.

49

And you were cool enough to come right back in.

50

So thank you again.

51

files, yeah, the world will never know.

52

Watch, we're going to record this, and then the files are just going to pop up.

53

They're going to be like, surprise.

54

Then we'll have a part one and a part two or something like that.

55

I love it.

56

You've been doing so much.

57

Everybody knows where you've been, what you've been up to with TNA, with the podcast, with

everything that you've been doing, everything with the system.

58

As we're talking about entrance themes, we're going to talk all about what we've worked on

together.

59

One thing that you have

60

a lot of has been entrance themes over the years, both as Brian Myers, as part of the

system, as part of the edge heads, Curt Hawkins, all of these things that encapsulate your

61

career.

62

You've had a lot of different entrance themes.

63

And so before we even get into the ride, before we get into the theme for the system and

major players and all that for you, what are some of the most important things in an

64

entrance theme for any wrestler?

65

I think it's just the immediacy of the crowd getting excited to see you walk through that

curtain.

66

Right.

67

So I think like the ultimate example is obviously the glass breaking and stone cold, you

know, set the tone, get the pop, right.

68

think anything that's kind of too slow into that is, you know, not doing your character

justice or the moment justice.

69

Um, and I think.

70

Another thing that's gotta be acknowledged is in modern times, I think our perception of

that is also skewed with trons and stuff.

71

Cause I don't think like, you know, let's say Shawn Michaels per se, like, you know, the,

uh, that doesn't get the pop as much as the H B K and the screen, like then the reaction

72

comes.

73

So I think a lot of it is equally important would be probably that kind of representation.

74

I mean, I've seen plenty of like,

75

songs, everyone is this.

76

And until it says the name, right.

77

Then people, then they react.

78

almost the song becomes like, unfortunately, like secondary, but I mean, then ultimately

the goal is to be so over with the crowd that they're anticipating seeing you in the first

79

place in your song, uh, gets said reaction.

80

And it's funny too that you bring that up because you're not just even talking about the

entrance thing at that point, right?

81

You're talking about the whole package, the whole production.

82

And, you know, I think everybody goes back to the stone cold glass breaking because it's

one of the most iconic things that the rocks, if you spell whatever the case, right?

83

And, you know, I think at that time you had such a golden age of, and this may be a

controversial take, this may not be, but I think the fact of WWF being so big back then

84

and all of a sudden having all of this

85

crazy production coupled with the characters, coupled with the music.

86

It's like we remember those entrance themes so fondly, but you also remember the whole

package, right?

87

You remember like most of the time you were seeing it all together at that point.

88

I don't know what it is and maybe it is just very biased for our age, but the music was

just so much more memorable than it is nowadays.

89

And I don't know what it is or what's going on, but very few uh entrance themes these days

on that, in the WV at least, do I think are like, wow, know, here comes this guy.

90

It's just not like that.

91

I don't know what the disconnect is.

92

I think a lot of it has to do, and this is something that, you know, having a lot of

people on the pod and entrance themes, composers and wrestlers.

93

One thing that I was thinking about was it might have to do with how much TV there is

right now and how much wrestling there is.

94

You know, it's not to say that I want any less, obviously.

95

You you guys do amazing work and all this, but I think there's an argument to also be made

that there's so much out there, right?

96

Everybody needs music everybody now could be on YouTube or on Triller or whatever the case

may be whatever you kids are streaming on nowadays But like there's so much need for it

97

that it's like back then you had one dead guy you had the undertaker and then maybe you

had something else, know in like WCW or whatnot of these places or Overseas but it's like

98

cool.

99

How many undead characters you got now?

100

you know what I mean, like there's there's so many and

101

You're not gonna give Shawn Michaels theme to Abaddon.

102

I love Abaddon to death, but you're not gonna do that.

103

You know, so there's kind of like a here's what you can do and here's what won't make

sense or you you kind of get what I'm saying.

104

Like there's a difference in like, yeah.

105

say if that was argument A to this, would say argument B would be people giving up on the

songs and changing too frequently and quickly before they become something memorable.

106

You know?

107

Yeah.

108

the character, right?

109

Instead of just saying, hey, this isn't resonating, this isn't working, take the character

somewhere, take the arc a little bit further.

110

So we're talking...

111

never like never changed Finn Ballard's music ever.

112

It's like almost criminal, you know.

113

doesn't count the fact that it's kind of ish now.

114

be the same character and have that song.

115

don't know, you know, could be healed, baby, whatever, but man, it's crazy to me.

116

Yeah, that was one of like the king CFO themes, right?

117

That was like, he came in.

118

Yeah, I love that.

119

the time.

120

Like, you know, WWE is making a lot of money, they're doing a lot of wonderful things.

121

Triple H needs to get on that jet and find the CFOs and make make up because their run was

to first off the impossibility of replacing Jim Johnson, right?

122

But they were like doing it.

123

They had they had like a couple like unbelievable years of like putting out memorable

music and like for whatever reason, whatever happened, I have no clue why they

124

You know, walked away or whatever, you know, business went down, but man, we, Hunter's got

to on that jet and get them back.

125

Apologize, figure out what the hell it needs to be because whatever's going on now, it's

just not, this is not the same.

126

They're not making memorable stuff.

127

I was like, who, what?

128

I don't even remember the new, what's the new company.

129

They get a lot of flack at the internet.

130

Def rebel.

131

Like def rebel made that one like Romans, the song, and I don't know if they like

exhausted themselves created creatively in that one banger.

132

And then that was it.

133

Like nothing else is like up to par, in my opinion.

134

Like it's just not working.

135

Like it's very interesting.

136

But you know what, I'm gonna also dive in for a second on that because apparently there

was an interview with Roman months before that theme came out and he's like, yeah, we're

137

working on something.

138

Like something's coming down the pipeline, it's great.

139

But the word there was months, right?

140

The word there was you got the time to work on it and figure out who the character is and

what we're doing.

141

And um yeah.

142

to be the case in wrestling.

143

that's like, so if you're going to do that job, you got to figure out.

144

Also, I think I could be wrong, but see the CFOs had stuff because people were picking

from it because I know like Robbie Roode's music wasn't supposed to be his or AJ Styles

145

song was actually written for James Storm.

146

They wound up not using it like things like that.

147

I know.

148

So there's a couple of situations where happy accidents definitely happen along the way,

but still.

149

Yeah.

150

And something now that we're talking about all these different entrance themes.

151

So I know that we talked about yesteryear, right?

152

We talked about all these awesome themes from when we were both young and coming up and

all that.

153

And like, you know, for all of that, for the modern wrestlers, obviously you're going to

say your theme, you're going to say Matt Cardona.

154

So I'm going to pull those out for a second.

155

Right.

156

So for you in 2025, going into 2026, who do you think have some of the best entrance

themes in pro wrestling?

157

Well, like Romans for sure.

158

think that's just so epic.

159

It's, um, and fits and just feels like makes it makes it feel so important when it comes.

160

mean, I could cheat here and use my workout playlist because I use, I use wrestling songs

kind of like as a motivation for me in the gym.

161

Kind of like a, am I doing this in the first place?

162

You know, I don't really, uh, over the years I haven't really, uh

163

I feel like working out is part of my job, right?

164

So it's hard for me to find the peace of mind, I guess, when I'm doing it.

165

Like I think a person who doesn't have to work out for their job, know, to me it feels

like, like I'm checking emails or something when I'm working out.

166

it's like, I have to do this or else not I'm doing this for the benefit of my health,

which one day, you know, maybe that will, you know, flip flop.

167

I can see right here.

168

Okay.

169

So the newest.

170

Wrestling song on my workout playlist is, uh, with a smile, Ethan page, which is a death

rebel, which is a good song.

171

And I know because we're good friends and he probably doesn't want me to say this.

172

This was like a long thing of him saying no to other things and to redo it, you know, as a

good back and forth to get it right.

173

And I think they nailed it.

174

I think it's a very fun theme.

175

His is great, yeah.

176

Um, and then the other one I have, and just, just from working with him, a bunch of his

obfemies hands of fate, which is another death realm, which just has a good, like, it's

177

very simple.

178

Let's put it that way, but it gets the job done.

179

But also, like you said from the presentation, think about how he comes to the ring.

180

That guy is a monster, and all that implies.

181

And for as much as we were dogging DefRebel for a second, you need two DefRebel songs that

were awesome.

182

And Ethan Page also is somebody who I would love to have him on the show.

183

I'd love to have a conversation with him.

184

But he's somebody that you can tell throughout his career, has really tried to figure out

who his character is at the time, who he is, what he is, and all of that.

185

And to be able to...

186

be coming into NXT and just be like, yeah, that theme doesn't work for me, dude.

187

And then all of a sudden get the one that he gets like that's that's awesome.

188

That's knowing who you are.

189

to every performer, man.

190

It's part of your presentation.

191

It's part of your package.

192

Like we were talking today.

193

It's part of how you're going to be remembered.

194

When we won the tag titles at WrestleMania, Broski and I really didn't have a theme

because we were using mine or his, and we asked for a new one.

195

And then like the absolute dog shit that was presented to us was like mind blowing.

196

And we picked like the least shitty one out of the six.

197

Yeah.

198

then we said, this is fine for now, but let's figure this out.

199

And we never figured it out.

200

And I do, I think it like detoured our like run.

201

Cause this, this song was so bad that like it would, and no one knew it was us coming out.

202

And it would like, killed our, you know, how do you go from WrestleMania again?

203

This huge reaction when the tag time I said, no reaction.

204

Well, you change your song and no one knows the fuck you are coming out.

205

And it just, it just, I think it really killed our run, uh, pretty quickly.

206

Cause it was just like sucking the energy out of buildings, man.

207

We especially live events where you don't have like the Tron.

208

you know, capabilities and stuff.

209

It was just brutal.

210

And we were constantly asking to change it and it just never got done.

211

Um, and I, like I said,

212

at one point, didn't you?

213

think you guys, before they had like whatever theme they give you, I think you guys did a

little bit of a mashup, I think too.

214

Yeah.

215

that though, but it just, it was like super unfortunate.

216

And we try, we were just, I think too low on the totem pole to really complain and, know,

get our way.

217

But man, it was, it was rough.

218

And what we really did, what we asked for was our Hawkins writer song, by Disciple from

back in the day.

219

And they said they didn't have a good enough, sound quality of it.

220

Cause it was an old recording.

221

wow.

222

So we couldn't do that.

223

So that was like, was our initial quick fix.

224

Like, well, why don't we just do that?

225

This is ridiculous.

226

And that was our reason why they said we couldn't do that.

227

That's crazy though when you think about it because there are so many songs over time.

228

Like again, Shawn Michaels theme hasn't been, you know, redone over the years.

229

it has to have been though, or something.

230

Some remastered in some form because it makes me wonder like, why didn't Shelton get his

song when he came back?

231

Why didn't Carlito get his song?

232

Things that are really memorable and would have helped with the presentation of these

guys, they didn't get them.

233

And I'm thinking it's probably along the same lines.

234

I don't know John Morrison had the same.

235

Yeah, I don't know.

236

I know that little intro thing.

237

He might've, cause I know that they still did like the slow down thing, like in his intro,

but that's an interesting point that you bring up too.

238

Like there's so many over time and maybe some had the remaster, but it's interesting too.

239

And you guys had the one from the edge heads when you guys were the edge heads, right?

240

And then, right.

241

That one was sick, man.

242

That was, that was an awesome one.

243

That's an underrated.

244

just showed up.

245

I mean, we did have a talk with Kevin Dunn where we said, hey, we'd like like a cool song

or whatever.

246

And he came through and we were excited about that.

247

And then we wound up being on like the album and stuff.

248

It's pretty cool.

249

Was that one where you had a conversation at all with Jim on that or was that more like,

Hey, here's the direction and you're handed the song and you better like it.

250

they had like, we were with Edge.

251

So obviously, I mean, to this day, I got goosebumps hearing Metalink is like, you know, I

mean, to come out with him to that is one of the coolest things ever.

252

But if we ever did a match when he wasn't there, they had like generic theme number 47 for

us, which was brutal.

253

So we very quickly, know, Matt and I are music marks, you know, so we quickly were like,

okay, this sucks.

254

And we were very green and early in our careers and we weren't getting very

255

good answers from people we were asking.

256

And then we were just like, you know what?

257

Fuck it.

258

Like let's knock on the truck and talk to Kevin Dunn ourselves.

259

And we did.

260

We'd marched in there.

261

We had a great talk with him.

262

I remember we brought, we were really dating ourselves.

263

I think we had my iPad, I mean, iPod, sorry.

264

And we were like playing him songs that we'd like it to sound like, you know, or something

cool, you know, gritty.

265

And, you know, to his credit, something happened that day because like we got that

Disciple song and we got on the album and, you know, we had a pretty cool song.

266

I love hearing that too, that you had at least some level of, hey, here are the songs,

here are the references, here we go.

267

Cause I hear a lot of the times where there are wrestlers who it's just like, Hey, I just

had Maven on the show and Maven's just like, I heard my theme as soon as everybody else

268

heard it.

269

I heard a song.

270

Does it really?

271

Wow.

272

That's crazy to think too, but it's awesome that you guys at least were able to say, Hey,

here's some music that we want it in the vein of and let's, let's run on that.

273

And then you came back.

274

to WWE years later and then you had, it's not, wasn't called Face the Facts, I don't

think, but I know that last time you were on, were like, Hey, Face the Facts wasn't a

275

thing of mine, but like you had a song that had that in the intro and then that was kind

of a dope one too.

276

Was that another conversation of like, Hey, here's a song walk out and let's see what

happens.

277

yeah, so I'm, probably told this story last time and I don't think I've really told it

publicly.

278

So I'll say it again.

279

I get rehired and I'm in the process of like, I I don't think I've even been to a TV yet.

280

You know, I did the thing where they fly you to Pittsburgh and you get all the medical

stuff taken care of.

281

And I'm waiting to get my first like dates or whatever.

282

And, um, unfortunately my sister-in-law's father passed away and I was driving up to

Syracuse by myself to meet the rest of my family to go to his funeral and stuff.

283

And I get this call from a 203 number.

284

So I know I've just been hired.

285

It's gotta be somebody from the office or something.

286

So I answered it.

287

It's like, Hey, is this Kurt Hawkins?

288

He yes, Jim Johnson.

289

So I've never had a rapport with him the whole first time.

290

He's not somebody who came to televisions or whatever.

291

I met him in the tower, like in passing, like a handshake here, there in South studio.

292

And that's about it.

293

So we have this almost like hour long talk about what

294

I envisioned this new Kurt Hawkins theme to be, and he's been assigned to it.

295

He wanted to pick my brain.

296

I was telling him about some of my favorite themes that he'd done over the years.

297

Like my, my number one, think is my, uh, my time, you know, Triple H and China,

technically.

298

Um, you know, I was like telling him the on back of this new thing.

299

then, you know, I wanted this fresh start and I need a kickass theme like that.

300

And we had this incredible talk and I'm like, very excited.

301

Like, shit, this is cool.

302

And he's going to get to work on this song for me.

303

That's going to be pretty epic.

304

And then, he got like, let go within like the month, I want to say.

305

So that song, that song never came to be.

306

And I was like, boy.

307

then kind of same as anybody.

308

I heard the CFO one like in guerrillas, you know, as everyone else heard it, you know, for

the first time, which I, and I can't, the problem is that song's like, it's not bad.

309

It's not great.

310

But also I had these, these unbelievable expectations that I'm going to get this Jim

Johnson original banger written for me.

311

So for a song with no lyrics or whatever, it just wasn't special enough for what I was

looking forward to.

312

That's all I got to say.

313

That's crazy though.

314

And I don't, the one thing I don't think you brought up last time was the fact that you

were kind of like in this conversation with him and then Jim Johnson gets let go.

315

And then it's like, what happens to all this stuff?

316

I know, and right away when I remember seeing that headline, I went, oh no, there's no way

he wrote this song in that amount of time.

317

It was that quick.

318

That's crazy.

319

That's kind of like when I had Dijak on the show, he was like, I think I was one of the

last CFO themes that came down the pipeline before DefRebel.

320

It's like you never know because all you see are the headlines, right?

321

You don't know who's affected on the back.

322

right?

323

It's way, it's not something, trust me, don't bring it up to the locker room.

324

You know, what's going on there.

325

That's so crazy.

326

And then, you know, you're doing everything outside of WWE.

327

And then all of a sudden, we get to work together, myself and the boys, and it lives it

breathes.

328

You guys start working together and then Kevin from it lives it breathes says, Hey, you're

going to be stunt guitar on this one and we want to write it together.

329

And for me, I've told this before, you know, not just in our conversations, but to ever to

anyone who will listen.

330

Like man, that theme always meant so much to me too, for a bunch of reasons.

331

Number one, you're one of my wrestlers of all time, right?

332

I'm just like, this is one of the guys who, if I could choose a roster of people to work

with, is one of them.

333

Second, being able to be that young into my career of the entrance themes and being like,

all right, cool, guess what?

334

You worked here, here, and now we're gonna be jamming something out for Brian Myers.

335

And then hearing like one of the text messages that went through.

336

was Kevin's like, yo, you got to see this and you're, and it's you being like, yo, I'm

jamming this in my car and I fucking love it.

337

And I'm like, dude, that's like, that's the coolest affirmation in the world to be like

Brian Meyers like it.

338

Let's go.

339

Yeah, that was, um, shout out to Johnny clash from my day one wrestling students at

creative row wrestling.

340

It's funny.

341

Like it's funny how much the landscape changed between two firings, you know, cause

people, the first time I was like, nobody had a custom song.

342

You see dub style pick something off the radio or whatever.

343

know I mean?

344

Or anything, you know, know, licensed music and that's what everyone did.

345

And then here I am, you know, four years later back in the Indies and it's like, Oh no,

people want it.

346

You know, everything's streamed and people won't air this.

347

And I knew I was going to be going to TNA and I needed a, you know, needed a song.

348

And I didn't really want to put that in their hands because why would I?

349

And I was like, okay, cool.

350

And Johnny Clash introduced me to those guys and you and man, like, I know that first cut

I got was like no lyrics and I would just drive it.

351

was summertime of 2020 and I would drive around my town, run my errands and I would play

it so fucking loud.

352

just to like get a feel for it with the windows down.

353

And I remember just wanting to go like, shit, this is it.

354

Like they're onto something.

355

And then the first cut with the lyrics, it came to me while I was at TNA and like they

literally had to play it that day at the taping, you know, where I was gonna debut.

356

And I remember walking around with my headphones backstage playing and like literally like

with chills, you know, with the lyrics and stuff, how, uh

357

Just, was perfect.

358

It was perfect.

359

uh I mean, every disappointment I had in that last Jim Johnson story, this has superseded

all those expectations.

360

Almost like that Jim Johnson thing happened to me for this to exist.

361

You know what mean?

362

The disappointment of that for this to supersede my expectations.

363

Just an epic, epic ballad.

364

This is the superhero redemption arc is what you're trying to say.

365

And I love the lyrics too, because you know, cashed a lot of checks, took a lot of hits,

made my rounds like a weekend warrior.

366

Like I'm looking the lyrics up while we're talking here, right?

367

It's just for me, when I read these lyrics too, and when I was sent the lyrics, cause I, I

worked on the music side, obviously.

368

And then Kevin throws all these lyrics and Kevin's a great lyricist.

369

But for me, one of my weaknesses as a composer has always been lyrics, cause I'm

instrumental first.

370

And I'm just like.

371

You painted this picture of Brian Myers being like the most epic wrestler while telling

this full story.

372

And I think working on your theme, was such an eye opener of there are instrumental themes

over time that really hit and are really good.

373

And even a lot of them that I make, but I think that if you can really nail down the

lyrics for somebody, it makes it that much more personal and it's got to make it even more

374

enveloping for you too.

375

And it's back to what we do.

376

We tell stories in the ring.

377

The song is telling a story that's only helping enhance the experience of seeing my

character, right?

378

It goes hand in hand.

379

Yeah, absolutely.

380

And then we got another opportunity to jam together with the major players theme.

381

Again, Matt Cardona is talking to Downstate.

382

Downstate's like, hey, you worked on Brian Myers theme.

383

It'd be real cool if we had some like synergy going on there.

384

And that one, I'll always talk to their singer.

385

And I'm always just like, man, that's such a banger of a theme.

386

And he's just like, that's one of the themes that like people really dig.

387

But

388

Even to him, he's like, that's one of my underrated themes of all time that I was part of.

389

Yeah.

390

all time and then Matt and I will still tag and people will get to hear it, which is the

cool thing about it, right?

391

You know, it's going to live on, but man, like that theme is awesome.

392

Holy shit.

393

And that was more like, I don't have much backstory to that other than Matt saying like,

Hey, put these guys in touch with each other.

394

They're going to do something.

395

And I was like, Holy shit.

396

And it's another thing, you know, like we took it into our own hands.

397

We didn't let TNA do it.

398

You know, we knew we had these bookings and

399

We wanted to have it and actually we have a major players book and coming up and I'm

excited to hear it.

400

And actually I have a very funny story.

401

We just tagged.

402

We did a charity show here in my town, uh, to raise money for the little league.

403

And we brought in the Dudley boys and Matt and, uh, Devon, it was a week before Bound for

Glory.

404

So obviously I don't think he was going to take the risk of even wrestling before his last

match.

405

So Devon was our manager and it was a six man tag and it was me, Bubba and Matt.

406

So I was thinking of entrance wise and said, okay, what if I come out?

407

to my song, Matt comes out to his song, and before the Dudley's come, which is gonna get

the biggest pop, we'll meet right there at the top of the stage, and then major players

408

will come to the ring to that.

409

So you get a little taste of all three if you really know, right?

410

And I thought that was fun, I told my sound guy, and I said, you have the major players

theme, and I think this goes to show you how low-key underrated the song is, that not a

411

lot of people even realize that we have this major players theme.

412

My student who runs the sound downloaded the Hawkins and Ryder song that I hate, like

generic theme number 47.

413

So it like kicks in and like at first, I mean, I'm having like flashbacks of like just how

much I hate it coming out of that song.

414

And I'm like, oh, so I'm like looking around like, well, someone's playing a joke on Matt

and I like, they did this like on purpose or whatever, looking around and then I just

415

realized he just, it was an honest, complete fuck up.

416

And I was like, dude, what are you doing?

417

We have like a.

418

downstate banger I wanted you to play and you told me you had like I should have been more

detailed with him but I just assumed he had but and Matt and Matt was Matt was mad I was

419

like oh I was like we're being ribbed and I'm like looking around I realized you know what

this is just a legit fuck up but it was what it was

420

I'm just envisioning to like a happy Gilmore style thing where you're just looking over.

421

You're like, what?

422

And he's just like,

423

Like, what is happening?

424

Yeah.

425

Luckily, you know, like I said, the Dudley boys were soon to come and got Epic Pop, but

oh, just hearing that song again was like, oh man, brought back bad memories.

426

But you also brought up something interesting because everyone knows about Create a Pro

and the work that you do and by the way, massive shout out to the work that you've done

427

there.

428

It's just unbelievable the students that have come out of there, unbelievable the work you

continue to do and you're doing just amazing things for the wrestling industry with that.

429

You know that I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.

430

But you you're teaching them everything from the in-ring to the promos to...

431

you know, just everything about the industry.

432

And for you when it comes to entrance music, are you also having those conversations with

talent?

433

Like, hey, think about your entrance theme.

434

What does the entrance theme conversation look like with the wrestlers and your students?

435

It's funny to kind of echo what I had previously said.

436

It's changed in the, you creative pros were open 11 years, going to be 12 next year, uh,

coming up.

437

like when it first started, I was very hands on with, you know, developing these

characters of the students and putting a song with them that I thought was appropriate or

438

it'd be, you know, ear catching, whatever.

439

And that would make sense.

440

Now my advice is like, I really can't do anything to help you.

441

You need to find someone and find us.

442

theme that's yours that you own that can be played anywhere because if any opportunities

arise for you, you have to be ready to do that or, and, there's no sense in getting a

443

radio hit over because you don't own it and you can only take it so far.

444

You know, so I just, my modern day advice on that is like the sooner the better to get a,

a custom theme that you own.

445

I would be remiss if I didn't talk about Leo Sparrow too, cause I've worked on a theme for

him.

446

That theme was fun too.

447

And it's like, you talk about characters and you know, before I had gotten to work with

him, hadn't really known who he was, but that he's like, yeah, here's my total character,

448

vegan thing, vegetarian, all of that got lettuce.

449

I'm throwing it to people in the ring and all of this kind of stuff.

450

Number one, he's just awesome.

451

Number two, I remember talking to Montese who I got on that track and he's like, all

right, cool.

452

Who's the character?

453

And I'm literally laying this whole thing out for him.

454

And he's just like, I gotta rap about lettuce.

455

I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

456

You gotta rap about lettuce.

457

Figure it out.

458

Son of the sun, let's make it happen.

459

And that one turned out to be a banger.

460

so it came full circle there.

461

Other Creative Pro shout out while we're at it is, just by chance, luckily we had Max

Castor as alumni and he is a legitimate rap artist and he made a lot of people's themes

462

and helped out in a big way with making beats for people and things like that.

463

So always cool that it's all organic and in-house at Creative Pro.

464

I love that.

465

And the fact that you have so much of that talent coming through too.

466

And it's just like, you don't know who has that talent.

467

You don't know who to go to.

468

But now there's a good few of us who are able to do it.

469

can even have like, this just, it's just such an awesome time to be a wrestler in my

opinion.

470

But it's even for people looking to do entrance themes and get entrance themes.

471

There's a lot of places to go for that too, which I think is really cool.

472

And then we'll talk about real quick, the system and then we'll get into a.

473

Couple of things that we do on here as of recently.

474

The system theme done, Chris Bay, Montesey, awesome banger of a track.

475

How did that one come to pass?

476

Because that thing hits hard, man.

477

That's awesome.

478

it's so good.

479

Um, so we've, we had the system song, which was like a free music track that, um, Eric

Tompkins is the guy I gotta give him a shout out behind the scenes of TNA for a long time.

480

You know, ridiculously talented.

481

He has a really, really, really good ear for music and placing that on talents and stuff

like that.

482

So when we debuted the system almost three years ago, he had that track for us and not, he

added the, uh, the horns and the trust the system, which I love cause it's like, they know

483

we're coming and it's part of the presentation.

484

And then we had recently it's my anniversary turned baby face and I we all kind of thought

that maybe that something needed to change And moose had been talking to Montesia, I

485

believe And he had him Really kind of just he had like just a beat is what it was.

486

It just trust the system trust the system like oh and he Presented it to the team and we

all we all said especially me.

487

I'm the one who kind of spoke up It was good, but I was like there's something missing

488

And I said, Hey, what if we asked Bay to rap over this and make it more personalized?

489

I think that would be like the sentimental TNA touch that this thing is missing.

490

I.

491

Compat myself on the back.

492

I was, you know, obviously nothing to do with it, you know, uh, writing it or anything,

but that idea was it.

493

And that was, you know, the missing piece and it's, it's really cool.

494

It's cool to see it on iTunes and hear Bay and you know, like I said, like I said, he

personalized it.

495

for us, know, we're all mentioned.

496

um And it's since we've debuted it, it's like each show, the crowd, I can see the, I'm

getting more into it as I come out, like vibe into it.

497

And I can see the people, you know, vibe into it and, you know, chanting along if you will

with the beat.

498

It's really cool thing.

499

And it's been cool to see it grow.

500

And TZ and Chris are two people that you can literally hand them anything and they make

gold out of anything, just as both people, musicians, whatever you want to call it.

501

They're just awesome.

502

And the fact that you have a theme like that for the system, it's hard enough being able

to describe one person, right?

503

Let alone five in one theme.

504

And I feel like it's crushed it over time.

505

And like you said, Chris Bay really just brings it even more too.

506

And it's such a cool time.

507

And the fact that Chris Bay is so integrated with TNA, it's like...

508

If you know, know, and everybody knows, and just to be able to have them on that track

really shines it up even more.

509

Yeah.

510

But I mean, I look like, especially in this conversation,

511

I'm realizing, man, I've been really blessed because like to come out the edges song and

you know, these, all these, the, you know, your guys theme for me and the system theme,

512

you know, it's been pretty cool.

513

It's like when, when the first time I was on the Indies, I would have to like, make it a

point, like, do not play.

514

Like, I just didn't want to hear like disciple or I didn't want to be the guy who like,

you know, I thought like, when am going to be like in my edge tights doing like

515

Indie shows until I'm 50, whatever.

516

I didn't want to be that guy.

517

I wanted to keep going and keep reinventing and keep, keep moving.

518

So like, if I forgot to tell them to play that and they played that, I'd be behind the

curtain like, shit.

519

And that was always on me, right?

520

That's my fault.

521

I'm fuck, I forgot.

522

Like I got too caught up or distracted to make that note.

523

But now it's like, you almost can't make that mistake.

524

I mean, obviously that story I just said about my student is the outlier, but

525

If you play the system song, I'm happy.

526

If you play the ride, I'm happy.

527

You can't really make me cringe around the curtain anymore because there's so many good

options.

528

You've got so many good themes that represent you just over time.

529

Like you said, it's so sick.

530

Yeah.

531

So now we're going to go ahead and do a little music city rumble here where you get the

opportunity to create one singles men's match, one singles women's match and one tag team

532

match.

533

And all the wrestlers in the matches are going to be musicians that you pick to duke it

out in the squared circle.

534

Poof.

535

Got one of the hardest questions here, my friend.

536

So let's start with the singles men's match.

537

Who are the musicians that you're choosing to go one-on-one against each other?

538

That one's easy because my all-time favorite musician is Tom Petty and my second is Bruce

Springsteen.

539

So that's right there.

540

That's Hogan Warrior kind of thing right there.

541

You got to just do it, right?

542

It's right there for the taking.

543

who do you got going over on that one?

544

Petty, because he's my favorite.

545

Nothing against the boss.

546

And boss is probably, I would say, more successful, you know, if you break down the

numbers, maybe I would say.

547

But yeah, I'd put Petty over.

548

Like literally, warrior Hogan, he'll pass the torch kind of thing.

549

I'm actually trying to see that Springsteen movie.

550

I'm just trying to find the time.

551

I'm to see it.

552

Yeah.

553

he's been in the news because of the movie, because of everything recently.

554

So he's still up there.

555

And also shout out to John Alba, who's a massive Bruce Springsteen fan.

556

He's been on the show and I'm sure that you say in Tom Petty winning, he'd be like, wait,

I got something for that.

557

Hang on.

558

I'm sure I'm not.

559

Like I said, know numbers wise, I'm sure Bruce maybe blows him out of the water with

awards and financials and stuff, but now petty's king to me.

560

Now we gotta book out the one on one women's match with the musicians being the wrestlers.

561

I don't even know, like, what female artist do I hold near and dear?

562

I mean, it'd have to be like a powerhouse, Madonna or something like that.

563

We can go with Madonna.

564

Madonna versus who though?

565

Maybe for my daughters I'll pick Taylor Swift.

566

How about that?

567

Yeah.

568

over in that one?

569

I think I already know.

570

Man, for my taste, Madonna, but I'm sure everyone else will pick Taylor Swift.

571

When your daughters hear this episode, they're gonna be like, dad, should have been

Tay-Tay.

572

Well, good thing they don't listen to podcasts yet, but yeah, one day.

573

One day they'll be upset.

574

Yeah.

575

And so now we got to book out the tag team match.

576

it's a band versus a band.

577

Who do you got and who goes over?

578

Let's do Nirvana versus Pearl Jam.

579

Pearl Jam over though, because I feel like, unfortunately Nirvana's longevity just wasn't

even comparable to theirs, you know, so, and I just love Pearl Jam to death, seen them

580

live.

581

They're like a fine wine, I think, you know.

582

Better with age.

583

I can get with you on that.

584

And I think that for me, I'd probably agree with the Pearl Jam going over on that one.

585

For me, when I started playing guitar, Nirvana was very much just like, these are the

songs that you learn.

586

But over years for me, and it is nothing against Nirvana, not saying either of us are

saying anything against it.

587

But as I've gotten older, for me, Pearl Jam, I think, has been even more memorable songs

for me, or songs that mean more to me.

588

more relatable.

589

That's kind of what happened to me in my old age.

590

Like I used to love taking back Sunday and brand new was if you asked me 15 years ago, my

favorite band was I would say brand new, but like I can't, it doesn't hit the same for me

591

as I get older.

592

I just can't and I almost feel bad for them having to perform it like, cause they have to

be feeling the same way.

593

Like there's, just, you aren't the same person you are when you're a college kid, when you

get older and you, have a family and it's just tougher to relate.

594

to these whiny, like, you know, like, this girl broke up with me song.

595

It's just, it doesn't hit the same is all I'm gonna say.

596

Yellow Card brought that up because they just came back.

597

And Yellow Card is one of my favorite bands of all time.

598

But even them...

599

So this was probably right before the new record then.

600

Like right when they started coming back.

601

um you know, Ryan was even saying, he goes, the lyrical themes on this record are cool.

602

But he's like, yeah, I'm not that 15 year old kid anymore.

603

like, the music, you have to kind of go with us now.

604

Like I live and died by that stuff in college and now it's just like, it doesn't hit the

same or it's not, I'm not jumping to listen to it on a regular basis.

605

That's for sure.

606

Sure.

607

It is funny though, I think I've told you before, my wife and I run a music school.

608

One of my students were learning Breathing by Yellow Card.

609

So there's still a little part of me that'll always kind of go back there.

610

And they're just like, this song's awesome.

611

I'm like, it relates to you.

612

This is great.

613

And then I got one more thing for you before we get out of here.

614

And I ask this to every single person who comes on the show.

615

If you had to choose three songs that define you, the man, Brian Myers, what would those

three songs be?

616

Poof, you know, this is like such a deep question that I would love like a month to

prepare for this.

617

it's tough, man.

618

There's like some, there's, it might be real bizarre, but there's sometimes I hear songs

that I'm like, if I were to die, I wouldn't mind if someone played this at my funeral kind

619

of thing.

620

You know, that being said, I really don't, that's such, I wanted this answer to be so

personal and near and dear that I don't want to just wing it.

621

Um, there is a, there is a Goo Goo Doll song called So Alive.

622

I don't know if you're familiar with it.

623

song.

624

I am such a Google Dolls fan.

625

think it's like, if someone were to think of me when they heard that song, I would be

blessed.

626

You someone that just grabs every day by the horns and lives to the fullest, you know, and

you know, that kind of thing.

627

um

628

Something like that, know, something that that leaves a legacy, I think is what would be

important to me.

629

That's a good one.

630

And then you got two more, which makes it even harder.

631

I don't think I can do it.

632

Yeah.

633

And then next time, next conversation will be like, we're going to update this with two

more.

634

You gotta give me homework.

635

You can't just spring those those kinds on people.

636

I love that.

637

Brian, thank you so much for coming on the show and thank you again for making time in

your day to do a second interview.

638

I'm sure the first one at some point will make the light of day.

639

It'll be like a deep cut as they say, but

640

fall from the clouds, but hopefully people can hear it.

641

But I'm sure there's some repeated, you know, repetitive stories.

642

you're, you're good.

643

Thanks, man.