One month ago today, on the February 23rd episode of WWE Monday Night RAW, it was announced that AJ Styles, one of the cornerstones of modern pro wrestling, will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame over WrestleMania weekend. His retirement came after a loss to "The Career Killer" Gunther at Royal Rumble, and the induction announcement was paired with a video package soundtracked by Creed.
Turns out, though, that is far from the first time that "The Phenomenal One" has been associated with anything nu metal or nu-adjacent. Back when he wrestled for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in its dying days, he and tag team partner Air Paris entered to an instrumental version of "Loose" by Primer 55, as seen in this clip from what would be the final episode of WCW Thunder:
He also used Sevendust's song "Praise" while in Ring of Honor (ROH) circa 2003, but footage for that is hard to find, at least any that isn't behind a paywall. But the wrestling database Cagematch affirms it, and we know how together those Germans have it, so we're going with it. It's also worth mentioning that the independents don't have nearly the amount of licensing hoops to jump through that the larger companies like WWE or AEW do, so using outside music is common.
The WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony is set to take place on April 17th immediately following WWE Friday Night SmackDown. Emanating from Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas, NV, the inductees announced thus far are Stephanie McMahon, AJ Styles, Demolition (Ax & Smash), and celebrity inductee Dennis Rodman.
