A Plea for Authenticity: Music, Stages, and the Soul WWE Has Lost

I love pro wrestling. When it is at its best, it is the best. Not movies, music, sports, or anything else can be pro wrestling at its best. I had the honor of training with Dr. Tom Prichard and Mayor Kane in Knoxville. Tennessee at Jacobs Prichard Wrestling Academy and it taught me so many things, but without question it made me want to fight for the art form that is pro wrestling. Obviously if you love pro wrestling, you have to love WWE. It made pro wrestling mainstream and 95% of my favorite memories of wrestling have come from World Wrestling Entertainment. No matter what else is out there, the top dog will always be WWE. If WWE is doing well, it helps out the entire industry - All Elite Wrestling included. AEW is WWE’s main competitor right now and is owned by the Khan family (same family that owns the Jacksonville Jaguars) and you can find on TNT and TBS every single week. However this article does not have anything to do with them. This is strictly about the current state of WWE. I have thought long and hard and have watched millions of hours of wrestling and I truly believe that there are two key missing pieces in todays WWE. That happens to be music and stage design.

Yes, I get it. WWE is now wrapped up in private equity, squeezing out every dollar possible. That’s a major issue, but this isn’t about politics. This is about what makes fans feel something. Without those touches, why should I care more about a “PLE” (as they now call them) than a Raw or SmackDown? What makes one show different from the next?

Back in the day, there was always a clear distinction. Eric Bischoff’s Raw didn’t feel like Teddy Long’s SmackDown. Triple H leading Evolution on Raw felt far different than The Undertaker and JBL ruling SmackDown. John Cena was QB1 on Raw while King Booker ran SmackDown like his own kingdom. Even the commentary teams mattered - Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler on Raw versus Michael Cole and Tazz on SmackDown. It gave you something to fight for, something to pick sides about.

The Missing Soundtrack

Jim Johnston understood that a theme song wasn’t just noise to get someone to the ring - it was identity. It was storytelling. Even mid-carders and guys who never became stars had songs that made you care. Billy Kidman’s theme. Maven’s theme. David Otunga. Alex Riley. None of them were massive stars, but when their music hit, it made you feel like something was about to happen. We make fun of Billy Gunn’s “Ass Man” theme, but you know what… it’s memorable.

And it wasn’t just wrestlers - it was the PPVs too. People still talk about the My Way video package from WrestleMania 17. Bring Me to Life for Triple H vs. Scott Steiner at No Way Out 2003. Always by Saliva at Survivor Series 2002. Light It Up by Rev Theory at WrestleMania 24. Enemy by Sevendust at Unforgiven 2003. Ladies and Gentlemen by Saliva at WrestleMania 23. Those themes didn’t just hype a show, they gave it a soundtrack that stuck in your head years later. Also Triple H vs Scott Steiner was an abysmal match, but with the right soundtrack everything can be better. 

Compare that to today: outside of established stars like Randy Orton or CM Punk, when a song hits, do you honestly feel anything? Entrance music now is interchangeable, generic. PPV themes are background noise. Nothing adds to the character or the moment. And that’s a massive problem. Music is one of the most powerful emotional triggers there is and WWE used to be the master of it.

I go to college football games and hear Steve Austin’s glass shatter, Triple H’s Motorhead, DX, John Cena. Does anyone ever hear LA Knight’s music at a Chargers game? No.

And don’t tell me “we’re just keeping up with the times.” This is the TikTok and algorithm era - everything is in style. Don’t tell me the majority of wrestling fans listen to Megan Thee Stallion over 2000s divorced dad rock, because that’s false. A huge problem is companies and people trying to be something they’re not. WWE doesn’t need to chase trends. WWE needs to be WWE.

The Missing Stage

It’s not just the music. Stage design used to make every show feel different. Go back and watch an old Backlash, Unforgiven, Judgment Day, or Armageddon. Each one had a stage that told you this was a one-night-only event worth paying for. Do you remember Jeff Hardy celebrating his iconic WWE Championship win at Armageddon 2008 on the stage? Shane McMahon falling off the scaffolding at SummerSlam 2000. Rhyno taking Chris Jericho through the set. Those are all memorable events - and the stage itself helps you place them in history.

That’s the thing: stages used to be time stamps. If you see a clip of the swinging hooks from Backlash, the giant fist from SmackDown, or the gravestones from Judgment Day, you instantly know the year, the vibe, the era. Those visuals didn’t just live for one night - they ended up on posters, DVDs, video game covers, and even t-shirts. The set itself became part of the marketing, part of the memory.

Do anything like that today, and you can’t tell if it took place at a random SmackDown in Biloxi, Mississippi, or Survivor Series in Vancouver, BC. Every PLE, Raw, and SmackDown looks the same. Giant screen, same graphics, same vibe. When everything looks identical, nothing feels worth fighting for. It’s like college athletics or even the corporate world - if every team, every workplace, every product feels the same, why even bother having a favorite?

The Effort Problem

The real issue here is effort. Fans will care no matter what, but that doesn’t mean they should be taken for granted. The days of the Summer of Punk, of organic storytelling that felt alive, are long gone. Backstage, it doesn’t feel like care is being put into making each moment unique. It’s become about cashing checks instead of creating magic. About grabbing a quick social media headline to lure in a casual fan who leaves two minutes later to watch a random stream.

WWE has hundreds of millions rolling in from Saudi deals and massive TV rights. That money could go back into making fans feel like their passion matters. Instead, the product feels stripped down - no identity, no flavor, no soul.

Bring back Jim Johnston. Bring back meaningful stage design. Bring back the little things that made WWE feel like the place where larger-than-life characters lived.

Because when I went to WrestleMania, it mattered. The Undertaker putting his hat and gloves in the ring - it mattered. Seth Rollins cashing in at WrestleMania 31 - it mattered. Daniel Bryan and the Yes Movement - it mattered. Once in a Lifetime - it mattered. “I’m sorry, I love you” - it mattered. Foley getting his WrestleMania moment - it mattered. Eddie and Benoit hugging - it mattered. Brock pulling out a shooting star press - it mattered. Rock and Hogan staring each other down - it mattered. Austin aligning with McMahon - it mattered. Evolution - it mattered. Dusty and Flair - it mattered. Flair and Steamboat - it mattered. Mid-South Wrestling mattered. JCP mattered. FCW mattered. NXT Black and Gold mattered. The Mega Powers mattered. Andre mattered. Bret “screwing” Bret mattered.

Every branded PPV mattered. Every show's GM mattered. What is one single thing you can take away from last week’s SmackDown and say, “That mattered to me”? Did Brock squashing Cena at WrestlePalooza mean anything to you, or did one of the greatest of all time hinder his legacy by being given nothing in this run and putting over no one that actually needed a rub?

I just want things to matter. I wish one of my favorite things in the world still mattered.

Because wrestling doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to matter.