Wrestling CD Reviews

Here you'll find reviews of any wrestling CDs we come across, from WWE entrance music compilations to albums recorded by wrestling stars. If it's been pressed to CD, the chances are we'll be including it here...

WWE Anthology

This is a brand new 3-CD set from the WWE featuring an astonishing 86 tracks covering Superstar entrance music from three eras of the WWE from the classic WWF days right up to the present day. Each CD has a specific theme relating to a different age of the WWE.

The first disc, featuring 33 tracks, runs for just under 80 minutes and is entitled "The Federation Years". This spans music from the mid-80s through to the mid-to-late 90s while the brand was still known as the WWF. There are some classic tracks here including arguably the best entrance music ever for a WWE Superstar, Hulk Hogan's "Real American". As well as this, are entrance anthems for Shawn Michaels (the same song that is still in use today!), Jake "The Snake" Roberts, The Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, and three of the songs for some of Mick Foley's characters - Dude Love and Mankind.

This CD is a great trip down memory lane and a lot of the themes bring back memories of some great fights, including the legendary Wrestlemania encounter between Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior. Many of the Superstars featured on this disc have either left the WWE now, or have had a varied career, with many leaving for the WCW then returning at a later date including Razor Ramon (aka Scott Hall) and Diesel (Kevin Nash).

The following two CDs will be of more interest to a lot of the younger WWE fans. The second disc is another 80 minute selection of 35 assorted tracks collected under the Attitude name for "The Attitude Era". This CD represents the change in storyline development and strengthening of characters that took place in the 90s and the complex plots that started to develop.

On this CD, we're treated to the D-Generation X theme, themes from Steve Austin, Goldust (the WWE's resident painted freak!), Eddie Guerrero's "Latino Heat" and many more. All of these will be instantly recognisable to fans, and just under half of the tracks on this CD are still in use today as the Superstar's themes. There are some great songs including a few Pay Per View themes and this CD also sees a few remixes of themes in use today including a new twist on Kurt Angle's and The Rock's themes.

The final CD is a shorter affair lasting for just under an hour and featuring 18 songs. Entitled "Now!", naturally this features themes from current Superstars and Pay Per Views along with a few new tracks and interpretations of existing themes. Highlights here are themes for The Hurricane, Brock Lesnar, Christian, Rey Mysterio and Chuck and Billy's "boy band" theme. A great mix here and this is probably the hardest, grittiest CD of the collection (with the exception of Chuck and Billy...!).

What I found astonishing about this collection was that virtually all of the tracks have been written by ONE person, the WWE's resident composer, Jim Johnston. Since joining the organisation he has been responsible for writing over 500 pieces of music and has managed to produce an incredible range and variety of styles to suit each wrestler's personality brilliantly, while still keeping the tracks good enough to listen to in their own right.

There are some tracks that I would have liked to have heard on this compilation and some of my all-time favourites aren't on this collection. I know most of these are available on other WWE CDs, but it would have made the collection complete. I would have liked to have had Motorhead's version of "The Game", Limp Bizkit's "Rollin" and Edge's current theme, but you can't have everything and I think the WWE have managed to produce a set that is a real trip through history and a great representation of WWE music through the ages.

The assortment on offer is astonishing. Almost four hours of music, 86 tracks, and a legacy spanning three decades. There are a lof of brand new tracks released for the first time on this set, and almost a third of the tracks have never been released before in any format! If all of that wasn't enough to interest you, there's even a bonus poster inside the packaging and some wonderful sleeve notes from Jim Johnston.

The packaging is wonderful with a fold out card sleeve holding the three CDs, each with printed designs capturing the look of each era, plenty of photos and a bold, emobssed cover image. I know the packaging isn't the most important thing in any CD release, but it really does add to the collection here.

You might wonder who this collection would really appeal to. Well, anyone who's a wrestling fan will find songs on here that they'd love listening to and everyone will have memories coming back of favourite matches. As an added bonus, CDs like this can be great for anyone with the WWE Raw game for the X-Box. As well as being able to create your own wrestlers, you can use the X-Box's facility to lift music from CDs and if a wrestler isn't in the game or their music is wrong, just use this collection to put things right!

This is an incredible compilation and represents remarkable value for money. The first CD will bring back a lot of fond memories for those of you old enough to remember the early days of WWF's mainstream popularity, and everyone will find some of their personal favourites on this collection. A stunning mix and an essential purchase for any WWE fan.

Reviewer: Simon Plumbe