Mikey Rukus, the man responsible for a lot of music used in AEW, has addressed the comments from many unhappy fans following a recent taping of Saturday night show Collision.
No strangers to using licenced music to make the shows and matches more big-time, Collision had previously used the Elton John song Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting ever since the debut edition of the show back in June 2023. However, in what was the latest in a series of presentation changes, AEW has composed a new theme in-house that opened the July 20th episode.
🚨LET’S GOOOOOO!🚨
Yes you heard correctly!!Check out the full version of The BRAND NEW #AEWCollision Theme
“Red Light Is On (Let’s Go) by @MikeyRukus and @OmegaSparx!! pic.twitter.com/fOuMAmCOwn— AEWMusic (@AEWmusic) July 21, 2024
The new theme was not well-received by fans with many preferring to have Elton John’s hit be the opening theme song of the show along with calls to change the title song already. Acknowledging the response on social media, Rukus stated that he knew that there was no way he could match up the icon of the music world and while there is “universal hatred” for the song, it’s here to stay:
Hey guys. Its ok. I knew it would be universally hated. Theres no such thing as an upgrade from Elton. Change is inevitable. We tried something different with the college/gogo cadence. I knew many would t get it. Again, it’s ok. I’m happy with it, my team is happy with it. It’s not changing.
Addressing the change in theme as part of a daily update, Dave Meltzer stated that while there was no official word for the change it is likely down to cost-saving measures:
AEW didn’t have the Elton John Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting open on last night’s show in Arlington, TX. No word as to why. It was expensive to use and there have been cutbacks on using some expensive music.
Licenced music has been notoriously expensive to use on wrestling shows over the years and has been used more sparingly in AEW shows. During the Anarchy in the Arena match at Double or Nothing, Matt Jackson demanded that the production team stop playing Europe’s hit and previous Bryan Danielson entrance theme The Final Countdown as it cost the company $200,000 per play. Follow-up reports have since stated that this figure is somewhat accurate.
New AEW Champions Crowned
Following the Bang Bang Gang being stripped of the trios titles on a previous episode of the show as Juice Robinson attempted to replace Jay White, new champions were crowned on the July 20th episode of AEW Collision.