Jim Johnston is regarded by many wrestling fans as the best music composer that WWE has ever had. Considering that he was behind some of the company's most iconic themes, it's not hard to understand why many are still calling for him to be brought back todayor to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
However, in an episode of his "Something To Wrestle" podcast, couched between some praise, Bruce Prichard criticized Johnston's work, especially his later output. "I think that Jim had a huge contribution to the business in general. Jim wrote the soundtrack to a lot of people's youth," he admitted. "The issue and I'm not discounting Jim or that argument I don't know, maybe he does [belong in the Hall of Fame] and I do believe that Jim, without a doubt, had a huge contribution. The issue becomes, with only having one person to do that, after a while, it all starts to sound the same."
Prichard quickly added that he wasn't knocking Johnston personally and praised his body of work, but clarified that he had a signature sound that always sounded like Bam Bam Bigelow's entrance theme. "That's why we also used Jimmy Hart. That's why Rick Derringer was used. That's why other people were used," he explained. "But then as things got smaller, and Jim wanted more control, Jim wanted more and more not to have as much outside influence." Prichard then expressed that if he were in Johnston's shoes, he'd have taken all the help he could get, while crediting him for being able to do one of the most difficult jobs in the industry.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Something To Wrestle" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
