The man who wrote the greatest wrestling themes of all time has been released by WWE

Jim Johnston was probably a big part of your childhood…

If you watched wrestling during the fabled Attitude Era of the late 90s and early 2000s, you will know Jim Johnston’s work. His name might not be as well known as Steve Austin or Vince McMahon, but he was responsible for one of the most iconic parts of WWE: the entrance music.

A wrestler's entrance music is one of the most important parts of who they are. Would Stone Cold have been quite as cool without that broken glass hitting just as he arrived? It's essential to getting the crowd excited and making a wrestler stand out from the pack.

Johnston wrote countless classic themes like this for The Undertaker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=39&v=lKLgGz0HAw8

Stone Cold Steve Austin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=MOzjBO2dsmY

Vince McMahon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Uc3V8NxKWw

Randy Orton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM76LtznNrc

The Rock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C-mdFXKyBU

D Generation X

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHz3eL8kTgA

Chris Jericho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpRCh524bsQ .... and many, many more on top of those.

In recent years, a new duo called CFO$ has started contributing themes for new wrestlers. But Johnston had been at WWE for nearly 30 years and basically seemed like part of the furniture. That was until reports started to circulate this week that he had been released from the company.

Neither Johnston nor WWE have confirmed this, but it is being widely reported on the wrestling internet. Nothing lasts forever, but if he is really gone from the company, it is truly the end of an era.