Photo Credit: WWE
If you’ve noticed a shift in the music put out by WWE for its wrestler’s theme songs, you’re not imagining things. Back in March, WWE broke ties with CFO$, the production duo that has been making theme songs behind the scenes since 2013. In their place, WWE is working with def rebel, the pseudonym of businessman and music producer Doug Davis. However, their departure is more than a simple changing of the guard, and it could have consequences for many favorite superstars in the months and years ahead.
According to a report by Fightful (originally published in Fightful Select), WWE is urging talents to ditch theme songs produced by CFO$ for financial reasons. The company apparently signed a bad deal with the duo’s publisher where they give away half of the royalties from the songs. For a company that famously wants to control as much of their production as humanly possible, this is a problem, and more themes could meet the same fate at Keith Lee’s “Limitless.”
Chad Gable and Apollo Crews also recently changed their themes from CFO$ productions to songs by def rebel, but there are plenty of other current favorites still using themes from the duo. To get an idea of the extent of this problem, here is a partial list of songs recently used by WWE performers that are in the same boat:
- Matt Riddle: “Hey Bro”
- Ciampa: “No One Will Survive”
- Undisputed Era: “Shock The System”
- Lacey Evans: “Like a Lady”
- Ricochet: “One and Only”
- Shinsuke Nakamura “The Rising Sun” and “Shadows of a Setting Sun”
- Charlotte Flair: “Recognition”
- Sasha Banks: “Sky’s the Limit” and the Snoop Dogg remix
- Kevin Owens: “Fight”
- Alexa Bliss: “Spiteful”
- Bobby Roode: “Glorious Domination”
- Drew McIntyre: “Gallantry”
This isn’t to say that any of these themes are definitely changing, especially for the main event talent currently on the main roster. However, future NXT call-ups could more likely see the same fate as Keith Lee unless WWE and CFO$’s publisher comes to a better agreement over their past collaborations.
