During a recent interview with Slam Wrestling, AEW music producer Mikey Rukus revealed his creative process for AEW theme songs, the first song he ever did for AEW, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On how he got hired by AEW: “I was really close to burning out from my retail job – I was working 60 hours a week as a retail manager – so I reached out [to AEW]. We had an initial conversation in February 2019, and they asked me do something for the first Double or Nothing show. The first thing I did was the music for Nyla Rose – it was almost like an audition. After that, they started asking me to do more and more – ‘Can you do five songs, 15 songs?’ I finally said, ‘How about I just work for you guys forever?’ And I signed on in May 2019. Nyla is still using that same music today.”
On hinting at a wrestler’s old themes with their new one: “If somebody comes into AEW but they had a legendary career (before that), it’s always nice to connect the dots. Everybody knew him [Sting] from his entire career – it’s not like anyone was seeing him for the first time. So it was important to tap into the past, to honor the past character and stories, (in addition to) creating a new chapter. But some people will want a completely clean slate. Miro was a good example of that. When they did the ‘Best Man’ theme for him, they really wanted to give it an epic feel, and separate it from who he was in WWE. And when he went to the Redeemer character, they took it to another level. These are like pages that turn in telling their stories. Sometimes they’re a completely fresh coat of paint, and sometimes it’s a continuation, like turning the page in the same story. With Paul Wight’s theme music, we wanted to do something that really connected his storied career. What better way to do that than to get the same guy who sang his WWE theme to sing his new one? So that worked out really well.”
On the AEW Who We Are album for Black History Month: “I was looking for different ways to be innovative, and wanted to give as much of an expansive experience and audio experience to the fans as possible. This wasn’t just about writing theme music and sending it up and then waiting for the next call about writing theme music. I wanted to do something that impacted culture and had a deeper meaning than just making music. I pitched the idea last November. And rather than me writing all the music, I assembled a team of producers and artists that are familiar to the wrestling music space. And we just went to work. We wanted to tell their personal stories, as much as they were comfortable sharing. Each song is like a 30 for 30 special wrapped up into song form for each of the talents.”
