Been seeing all types of disrespect towards def rebel on Twitter (fuck "X" lol), so decided to do this video just to compare Jim Johnston, CFO$ and def rebel.
Been seeing all types of disrespect towards def rebel on Twitter (fuck "X" lol), so decided to do this video just to compare Jim Johnston, CFO$ and def rebel. Still got a new vs old theme songs video in the works, a guess the theme and a songs that were inspired or sampled video so stay tuned (those will eventually come out, don't know when but they will)
@@freakerfaker3711 I refuse to believe people actually hated that theme 🤣 I like it, but it’s not a good theme for Corbin. It would be better for someone else.
There are few songs that Def Rebel does get right though. Roman Reigns' theme is probably the best of the lot, especially when you hear it live at an arena or stadium.
Jim Johnston brought soul to his themes to the point that even the mid carders had dope music. CFO$ had more hits than misses in their tenure. Def Rebel has this habit of us getting at least two or three good themes…but we have to sit through seven or eight mid/lame ones.
Bullshit, most mid card songs Jim Johnston released were boring instrumentals, CFO is heavy revisionism because I remember most of the sentiment surrounding them when they were the main music people was the same as you've listed for Def Rebel.
I like Jim Johnston but knock it off saying he never made a bad theme especially since he actually just copied and sampled a lot of other popular songs. I’m surprised WWE was never sued over it
People shit on CFO$, but they really tend to forger that they're the same artists that's brought us "Demon" Finn Balor theme, Bobby Roode theme, Shinsuke Nakamura theme, AJ Styles theme, Uso's theme etc 🔥👌🏾 However I do agree that the loop were annoying since the beginning of the songs were often bangers looped for 5 min
@@reaperztm3585It would be as short as It is now but instead of You hearing the same 4 times in a row It'll be single or make It 3 minutes so It repeats 2 times at max. The song release plan was just horrible on CFO, like AJ theme It's a 2-ish minute theme and good, released as I think 6-7 minute song...
Other good CFO$ themes: Jhonny Gargano "Rebel heart" Tommaso ciampa "no one Will survive" D.I.Y "Chrome hearts" Alister black "Roots of all evil" Ricochet "One and only" Pete Dunne 'Bruiserweight" Tyler bate "inaugural" Undisputed era "Undisputed" Asuka "The future" Bobby roode "Glorious Domination" Etc.
Depends on the case, Baron Corbin's Def rebel theme song is leagues above is CFO. Def Rebel have made some of the greatest wrestling theme songs. It's just they also make the most mid
You're godamn right. If they want to suck CFO$ let's go but DEF REBEL is better xD and Jim is the GOAT. Dont forget thar DR did the theme of the tribal chief Roman Reigns !
In Jim's defense, some of the themes here are from when some of these wrestlers hadn't defined their characters yet. Like, Naomi was just using Brodus' theme.
@@andrewparker1622 not always... how many people sang along to them compared to, say, Seth or Shinsuke now. "One of a Kind" got people participate but it had melody ripped off from "I think I'm Paranoid".
I enjoyed a lot of the CFO$ themes and I always saw people shitting on them, been crazy to see that now apparently everyone loved them. How can we forget the legendary "CFO$ makes 30 seconds themes and loops them" complaint
First, they can crap on CFO$ for being so repetitive. Now, these same people are crapping on Def Rebel for nearly no reason and wanting CFO$ to come back. Fickle.
It’s not that we secretly loved cfo$ all along. There’s a clear drop from Jim to CFO$, it’s just that the drop from CFO$ to Def Rebel is even bigger, and def Rebel sucks so much that even cfo looks really good
@@kidz4p509 Def Rebel's music is generic as F, there's a major problem when people have to look at titantron vids to know who's coming out in the royal rumble
After watching I realized Def rebel CAN make bangers if he tries but when he misses he really misses hard. CFO was dependable. Most themes solid no complaints JJ never missed and when he did rarely it was still catchy.
@@ltagames01 He is also a producer with 4 grammy awards, you can have more than 1 job you know.. Though he does put very little effort into the wwe work, The darker themes and heel work is generally decent from him, the rest is crap. Also its a single person called Douglas J. Davis who is an entertainment lawyer and record producer, not a bunch of lawyers as you so claim.
@P3TER_Official23 it's not. It is the 1 guy. The rest just work for him in partnership or subordinate, which is why only his name is consistent, and the others always change about. Wwe probably didn't allow him to use his own name for licensing reasons and contracts so they wouldn't have future issues again.
Part 2 Jim Johnston vs CFO$ vs def rebel:- Sheamus (Written In My Face by Jim Johnston, Hellfire by CFO$, Ten Beats Of The Bodhrán by def rebel) Shelton Benjamin (Ain't No Stopping Me Now by Jim Johnston, Set It Off by CFO$, Bomb by def rebel) Tamina (Tropical Storm by Jim Johnston, What You Think by CFO$, Savagery by def rebel) Jinder Mahal (Main Yash Hun by Jim Johnston, Sher by CFO$, Vari Vari by def rebel) Emma (Who's That Girl by Jim Johnston, Real Deal by CFO$, About Me by def rebel) Erick Rowan (Sheepherder by Jim Johnston, Brotherhood by CFO$, Cyclops by def rebel) Curt Hawkins (In the Middle of it Now by Jim Johnston, Face the Facts by CFO$, Still Major by def rebel) Brands & PLEs (Raw, SmackDown, NXT, SummerSlam, etc)
Honestly, Def Rebel’s theme for Bobby Lashley is the best he’s had. I love his original 2007 theme, but he was also a happy go-lucky rookie. Nowadays he’s frightening and huge, which the theme reflects
Jim Johnston read them better than a CT scan ever could. He knew how to match the personality of a hair on a wrestler's neck with the music. A true gem.
Fr I mean the info he was given for Undertaker, and he made what ended up being a timeless classic, a track that as soon as it played, you know who was coming before the beat even dropped.
Def Rebel got some songs Accidentally right, because they're just a group of Lawyers and not a music production company, also, Def Rebel is the name owned by WWE, so whoever is the creator will work under this name
_"Def Rebel is the name owned by WWE, so whoever is the creator will work under this name"_ So they could literally fire ALL the djdtp guys, bring in a whole new team of ducks, still call it def rebel, and nobody would notice. Jim Johnston could literally come back as the lead composer or director of the team lowkey and it still be called def rebel. So much for that stupid hashtag.
@anonymousnobody326 that ALSO explains why so much of them sound like stock music, it's exactly what uncredited intern would write, or someone doing royalty free stuff. A lot is just doing the job instead of trying to score a hit, knowing you won't get the credit.
My hot take is CFO$ and Jim Johnston are equally good. I think they have the same batting average in terms of memorable, enjoyable themes. I feel like people are always a little too harsh on whoever the new guy doing the music is, and now that CFO$ aren't the new guys, we're seeing a little more appreciation for them which I think was always kind of deserved.
That’s a horrible take but we can all agree to disagree Jim Johnson has so many classics that wasn’t even make the list we are talking even wrestlers who weee there for a short time has lively amazing themes that has so much soul and matched the character cfos have some great themes but they are no in the same league as Jim Johnson
I disagree, Jim Johnston made mostly full tracks and had much better themes than CFO$. CFO$ didn't get the run that Jim had in terms of time so they obviously have less themes but a lot of them aren't really regarded in the same way Jim's were. Like people like Bill DeMott and Rico had themes people loved, you didn't really get that with CFO$; Lower end people got Vector cereal commercial background music as their theme (immediately thought of Shelton's terrible CFO$ theme when I typed that). I wish WWE would've used Stock music for more lower end people like they did in the past and only let CFO$ (and now Def Rebel) make themes for more intricate/established characters (also stop making everything a loop). Some stock music used in the past is quite memorable like "Loaded" for the Hardy Boyz or "Ollie Stalefish" for the Dudley's.
There was so much tripe in Johnstones era as well, most midcarders had generic heavy riff themes with no vocals that all blended together@@nocapnofilter2026
My personal picks: Corbin: Jim Johnston Lashley: CFO$ (Def Rebel was close) Dallas/Howdy: Def Rebel Cesaro: CFO$ Gallows: CFO$ Naomi: CFO$ Rollins: Jim Johnston (CFO$ is close, but nothing can beat Shield) Usos: CFO$ Woods: Jim Johnston
The difference between CFO/Def Rebel and Johnston is one thing, CFO and Rebel would go with whatever seems to be hip to listen to, modify it a little bit to somewhat feel a character the wrestler is supposedly. Johnston made huge research to get the character right, characters that were - at that time - very well defined. Quick example : Go listen to the two music of the Juraj Herz rendition of Beauty and the Beast by Petr Hapka, it is an incredibly gothic twist on the fairy tale, and you could hear Mankind's entrance and exit theme in both music (Beast's theme being Mankind's entrance, and Belle's theme being his exit one). Heck, he basically added an extra section to Chopin's Funeral March to make the Undertaker's theme. To CFO's credit, they did that as well, Samoa Joe has used Godzilla's intro music for himself, and his theme "Destroyer" is clearly taken from the score of "Godzilla vs Destoroyah" (hence the title of "Destroyer), but those were few and far between were Jim nearly did that on every wrestler and show he worked on. (He'd still be opportunistic, tho, the first SmackDown theme was him riding the coat tail of mumble rap, and Warrior's theme was ripping off the big guitar solo from Medieval Steel's song "Medieval Steel") But most importanatly, Jim's scores could be listened on their own, from Medal to It's Time all the way to Gold Lust (wich he considers his very best, and no wonder why), they're just masterpieces, you really need to love the wrestlers to like the CFO or Rebel music most of the time, or at least you cannot really listen to it outside of thinking of that wrestler. I'd listen to Gold Lust while drawing or doing exercice. Rebel's tracks are music made to force some stadium chants out of it, Johnston's track were made so the characters would exist even oustide of merely a match or a TV appearance, he treated them like archetypes that needed proper presentation to be "summoned".
I see many comments defending CFO$ for their Bobby Roode or Nakamura themes. Just comment that Jonston worked on the original version of Nakamura's theme before CFO$ took full control of the production, so, part of the credit for the theme goes to Johnston (and CFO$ of course). In the case of Roode, although it is credited to CFO$, Jim Johnston worked on some final fixes before its release.
the one thing i love about Jim Johnston is he make everyone theme bangger whenever they are jobber or top star. while CFO$ problem is they only make 30 sec theme then loop it 4 minutes. and Def rebel problem is they make banger theme (just for Top Superstar) and kinda gave mid-jobber superstar "Generic 7" ahh theme. . WELL SCRAP THAT! DEF REBEL TRASH CUZ THEY MAKE BRON BREAKKER THEME SONG WITH GENERIC AI THEME :V (i think A.I. theme can make better theme for Bron Breakker)
@@aaron_aj_knight_95 fr. and i think they just gave up. Cuz if i think about it. most of def rebel 'GOOD' and 'BANGGER' music. didnt have that stupid catchphase. (TrickWillian, Bobby Lasley, SethRollins Messiah, Ilja, BaronCorbin, etc.)
My Sonauto track and prompt written in Udio Roman Reigns theme sounds great actually. Sonauto definitely gets it's lyrics from wikipedia but thats the idea you need stuff like Head of the Table in the Chorus I feel so the Sonauto and Udio combi pulled up trumps as well as a 5% progress at a time making it about 8 minutes + non looped for such a slow entrance and match end as his whilst for a faster wrestler 10-20% builds might be better on the new Udio system. Udio and Sonauto together definitely makes better than def rebel already.
CFO$ wasn't that bad, I'd prefer them over def rebel anytime. Just listen to the Social Outkasts entrance music and you can kinda give a new appreciation to CFO$, they're not always bad.
They were not perfect, but they are far for being bad, CFO$ made a lot of songs that now are missed and some wrestlers are using those because they know that def rebel sucks
@@ChanT3They varied. Yes you had your generic rock song with no lyrics but at least it came together unlike a lot of the messy trap with other weird out of place instruments that def rebel produces and it ends up sounding bad. Sometimes CFO$ were able to make banger themes, just listen to B-team "battle scars". 🔥
@@yachtysworld CFO$ sucked dude. Jim being replaced by such lazy “composers” who were on record saying they weren’t wrestling fans and that they wanted to use their status in WWE to go compose for video games.
Jim Johnston is just different. Different sound, different instruments, different vocals, different feel. Those shoes were never gonna be completely filled.
Cfo's Had this Modern Gravitas to their themes that I can't explain.. Like Their Shinsuke, Seth Rollins, even Bo Dallas Themes had this epic, orchestral thing going on, that I appreciate.
Listen to the difference in production between Jimmy J/CFO$ and def rebel when it comes to Corbin and Jey’s themes. Idk what it is, but the instrumentation on def rebel’s themes a lot of the time just sound “cheap” for whatever reason.
Corbin: Jim Lashley: CFO$ Bo: Def Rebel Cesaro: Def Rebel Gallows: Def Rebel (but CFO$ is almost as good) Naomi: CFO$ Seth: CFO$ (I would give it to Jim if he made a Seth solo theme) USOs: CFO$ (kinda unfair to Def Rebel cuz they just made their solo themes) Woods: Johnston (New Day theme is just goated) CFO$ wins imo but if Jim stayed to make the current themes he would for sure be on top of
For me : -I bring the darkness -All mighty -Feared -Miracle (i'm french so hearing a superstar theme in my native language makes it special) -Omen in the sky -Glow -The second coming -Main event ish & Born a king (def rebel made 2 absolute BANGERS for the twins, absolutely LOVE them) -New day, new way Jim : 3 CFO$ : 2 Def rebel : 4 (5?)
What I love about the Jim Johnson era is that he had some old school rnb tunes under his belt and those are most entertaining for me. The hip hop /rnb bangers >>
Jim Johnston distilled the unique qualities of each wrestler into a deeply individual anthem for each gimmick. CFO$ loved to go for a heavy and frenetic sound, it was a mixed bag of hits and misses, but when they got it right, they made some bangers. DEF makes royalty free music.
Jim Johnson 3 - CFO$ 4 - DEF Rebel 1 Baron Corbin - Jim Johnson Bobby Lashley - CFO$ Bo Dallas - Def Rebel Cesaro - CFO$ Luke Gallows - CFO$ Naomi - CFO$ Seth Rollins - Jim Johnson The Usos - CFO$ Xavier Woods - Jim Johnson CFO$ were always my favourite WWE music makers.
I’ll be the one to give def rebel some love here…Rollins, Reigns, Bobby, Jimmy Uso, Woods, Trick Williams, Solo, LA Knight, Carmelo Hayes, Ilja Dragunov all have banger themes. But that’s pretty bad when you realize how deep the roster is
JJ is the GOAT no disputing that. But I’m very surprised to see many people saying CFO$ is better than Def Rebel. I personally thought CFO$ was either untalented or lazy. They pumped out the worst theme songs with the majority of them being remix vibes that just doesn’t really give the wrestlers an important feel. It left me as a fan feeling like they just made a bunch of sons THEN decided later who to give the songs to. Def Rebel has been a noticeable breath of fresh air. I think they have room to improve but I’m glad CFO$ is in the rear view. They did have a couple songs that I didn’t mind in this list though.
The thing is, JJ rarely wrote an entire theme before he knew anything about the wrestler. Famously Nakamura's theme was originally going to be Roode's. CFO$ just wrote a bunch of music and then they tried to find someone to pair with it. The other thing was most of his best themes had that opening that told you who was coming out. Outside of a few, most of them all sound so generic and interchangeable.
CFO$: Simple, repetitive but sometimes very catchy instrumental Def Rebel: The most generic instrumental you'll heard Jim Johnston: An actually worked song
This was my final tally. Was surprised they all tied. Also side note. All 3 themes for Lashley and Rollins are BANGERS! Jim Johnston - 3 CFO$ - 3 Def Rebel - 3
Half of the Jim Johnston ones in this list were not specifically made for that wrestler. I think even Cesaro's was actually made for someone else and just reused by WWE.
Most of the Def Rebel Songs are not bad, but others were just better for the Wrestler, lets take Bobby Lashley, the CFO's theme was just so Badass and the Def rebel one was more Tamed down
Agreed, although I think Bobby Lashley of all people isn't the best example. Better would be I think Cesaro which is a good theme but feels so weak compare to the other 2
Don't get me wrong def rebel can make grest music, Iyo Sky - Rollins - Lashley - Roman - The Fiend, but the problem is They are way too inconsistent for the bangers to truly shine
@@0stb01ii2 I know but under def rebel, like Aleisters wasn't done by CFO$ by They are still credited, def rebel were secondary artist and the ones to do the final mixing and most likely helped in other areas too
Baron Corbin holds the honor of being one of the last wrestlers to receive a theme by Jim Johnston. Def Rebel’s recent cooks have been with Jey and Jimmy’s themes
Part 2 Jim Johnston vs CFO$ vs def rebel:- Sheamus (Written In My Face by Jim Johnston, Hellfire by CFO$, Ten Beats Of The Bodhrán by def rebel) Shelton Benjamin (Ain't No Stopping Me Now by Jim Johnston, Set It Off by CFO$, Bomb by def rebel) Tamina (Tropical Storm by Jim Johnston, What You Think by CFO$, Savagery by def rebel) Jinder Mahal (Main Yash Hun by Jim Johnston, Sher by CFO$, Vari Vari by def rebel) Emma (Who's That Girl by Jim Johnston, Real Deal by CFO$, About Me by def rebel) Erick Rowan (Sheepherder by Jim Johnston, Brotherhood by CFO$, Cyclops by def rebel) Curt Hawkins (In the Middle of it Now by Jim Johnston, Face the Facts by CFO$, Still Major by def rebel) Brands & PLEs (Raw, SmackDown, NXT, SummerSlam, etc)
Unpopular opinion: Def Rebel isn't always that bad. Not a fan of them, I actually don't like some of th theme songs they made, but they can actually be good at times.
![WWE Entrance Theme Songs - Jim Johnston vs. CFO$ vs. Def Rebel [HD]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
