Jim Johnston’s lengthy career composing music for WWE began with a chance encounter at a Japanese restaurant.
Johnston joined WWE in 1985 and went on to spend more than three decades with the company, creating entrance themes for some of the biggest stars in WWE history.
During a recent appearance on Ropes N Riffs (see video below), Johnston recalled how he first crossed paths with someone working for Vince McMahon and ended up getting his foot in the door.
“I met a guy at a sushi bar, and this was back in the days when there were no sushi bars here, so it was just a Japanese restaurant,” Johnston recalled. “It was like going to your local bar where you saw the same six to ten people every time you went.”
The man eventually approached Johnston about providing music for a video he was putting together for his boss. Despite being early in his career, Johnston jumped at the opportunity.
“One night he comes in and says, ‘Didn’t you say you write music? I have to put together a video for my boss and I know how to put together the visual, but I have no clue how to put together music.’ This was really early on in my career, so I basically half-assed lied and said, ‘Absolutely, I know how to do that.’”
As it turned out, the man was working as McMahon’s art director. Johnston said McMahon had recently purchased the company from his father at the time, and the initial project wasn’t even intended for WWE television.
“He was the art director for Vince [McMahon] at the time, and Vince had just bought the company from his dad. There was no music—and this was just music for a cable TV conference, not even for TV. So I composed something, played it for Vince, and Vince liked it.”
That first project opened the door to more work with WWE, although Johnston noted that entrance themes didn’t become part of his responsibilities right away.
“At that point, Vince was off to the races, so his first question was, ‘What else do you do?’ So we just kept doing different things, though at first it was all peripheral stuff like promos and packages rather than entrance themes.”
Johnston ultimately spent 32 years with WWE and became responsible for many of the company’s most recognizable entrance themes before his departure in 2017.
