One of the most iconic theme songs in WWE is the one of former World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio. From his days back in the Ruthless Aggression Era to now, the WWE Hall of Famer walks out to P.O.D.’s Booyaka 619 theme song.
Recently, the lead vocalist of the band, Sonny Sandoval, mentioned that WWE did not pay the band for using their song.
While speaking on the Drinks with Johnny podcast, Sandoval mentioned that when asking to use their Booyaka song, WWE mentioned that it would not pay P.O.D any money but instead enticed them by mentioning the popularity and recognition the band would get after their song is regularly featured on WWE television.
“Sometimes, we’ve done stuff with WWE and because WWE is so huge, they’re so powerful of an empire, even back then. But they can say, ‘Can we use your music?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Okay. We’re not gonna pay you for it. But because we’re WWE, you’re gonna get so much press’ and you know what I mean? ‘And get so much hype’ and at some point, you’re like, ‘Dang, okay.’ I guess so. Because even now, I still hear it when Rey comes out. Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania… You’re like, ‘Dude, they’re still playing our jam.’ Big shout out to Mad One. It’s like, they’re still playing our tune but we ain’t seeing none of that… It’s a game bro, it’s a game.” [H/T POST Wrestling]
Sonny Sandoval has nothing but nice things to say about WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio
“Rey (Mysterio) is actually one of our good boys from here in the south so we went to the same school together. We would tinker around with music and he was crossing the border and wrestling down in T.J., lucha libre and you know, we kind of found a little success at the same time. We connected on some other things, but then he already had the song, his walkout song with another local Chicano rapper here in San Diego called Mad One and then so the WWE had done — at the time, they wanted to do a lot of their remixes, their walkout song remixes and kind of add maybe like a little metal flare to it or rock and roll flare to it.”
Sandoval is convinced that Rey Mysterio recommended them to WWE. He noted how Rey and the company are always gracious and inviting when there are live events in San Diego.
Do you think WWE should have paid P.O.D.?
