Jim Johnston gives his honest opinion on CFO$'s WWE themes, Lemmy, and more (Exclusive)

Jim Johnston has admitted that he is “not wild” about the WWE entrance themes that were created by CFO$.

From 1985 to 2017, Johnston created music for almost every Superstar on the WWE roster. In 2014, CFO$ (John Paul Alicastro and Michael Conrad Lauri) began producing most WWE Superstars' themes. They worked with the company until 2019 before disbanding in 2020.

Johnston recently spoke to Dr. Chris Featherstone on SK Wrestling’s UnSKripted series. He believes CFO$’s WWE themes, which included “The Rising Sun” (Shinsuke Nakamura) and “Glorious Domination” (Robert Roode), sounded too similar.

“Nice guys, I’m not wild about the themes they write. They all, to me, they all sound the same, they all sound… There’s a generic quality to them that you and I, Chris, were speaking about a little bit before the show, they don’t tell anything about the character or the story of the character. It’s just big, loud, exciting music.

“I completely confess it’s personal opinion but I absolutely think that entrance themes have to be completely about the story and the character. If it’s not, it’s no longer a theme. It’s just music that coincidentally plays when someone happens to be walking out to the ring.”

Watch the video above to hear more of Jim Johnston’s thoughts on WWE entrance themes. He also discussed music that he created for Superstars including The Ultimate Warrior and The Undertaker.

Jim Johnston on working with Lemmy in WWE

Corey Graves, Triple H, and Lemmy

Although Motörhead lead singer Lemmy is credited with performing Triple H’s “The Game” music, Jim Johnston wrote the lyrics for the theme. Johnston said he “can’t speak highly enough” of Lemmy, who passed away in 2015.

“To have spent any time with someone like Lemmy, who is truly a legend in the rock world, just a really interesting guy. A man not without his difficulties but, again, a complete and utter gentleman to me every step of the way. Can’t speak highly enough of him.”

In the same interview, Johnston also discussed the difficulties he faced while creating a theme for The Rock.

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