Daniel Bryan the Wagnerian
By Scott Keith on 30th March 2021
Hello,
My question about the Demolition v. WM theme reminded me of another illustration of the importance of music to the show's presentation, particularly how it can make or break the perception of a wrestler. During Daniel Bryan's big face run starting in 2013,
he was using a guitar-rock arrangement of Wagner's “Ride of the Valkryies” which sounded SO chintzy to me. It confirmed my long-held view that rocked-up versions of classical/opera pieces never work. It sounds too cutesy, and tends to reduce the music to
kitsch. But more than that, it biased me a little bit against seeing Bryan as a credible character. If you must use a pre-existing piece of symphonic music/opera, bite the bullet and pay to licence an actual recording of the piece (the music itself may be
public domain, but the recording isn't in case anyone was wondering). Or create your own recording: synthesizers and digital audio workstations have gotten pretty sophisticated these days in replicating orchestral sounds.
Am I on an island here in thinking that the choice of entrance music really wrong-footed Bryan there and made it harder to take him seriously?
YES! YES! YES!
Had to be done.