Kit Wilson details creation of his viral WWE theme song
Kit Wilson played an active role in shaping what his new WWE theme music would sound like.
The theme song — titled “Man Up” — has become a viral hit with fans over the last few weeks. Wilson adopted the new music for his singles run after Pretty Deadly tag team partner Elton Prince was forced out of action due to neck surgery. On Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Wilson said he was hoping the new song would be catchy, but it’s exceeded any expectations he had.
“I ended up having a fair amount of input. I was pushing for new music when I kind of found out what the situation was going to be and maybe I was gonna go solo. I started messaging a lot, saying, ‘I would love new music, can I get new music?’ Then eventually I got into contact with Neil [Lawi, the head of WWE Music Group], I believe, and then he called me. We had a little discussion on the phone. He said, ‘What kind of thing are you looking for?’ So I said, ‘Can I send you an email?’ Got off the phone and I started writing this email just with all my references, with all the songs I like, with all the ideas I had, lyrics, kind of the theme of it, the vibe of it. So I had so much [input].”
Some of the artists that Wilson used as inspiration were Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Jennie from the group Blackpink, Harry Styles, The 1975, and Jade Thirlwall. He sent WWE clips of their songs as the idea of the theme was formed.
“There’s just so many references there. I sent them all,” Wilson said. “I timestamped the bits that I like, the choruses, the here, the here. I’m always trying to give as much as I can so as much of me is there. And then they came back, gave me the first draft. It sounded great. A few tweaks, a few tweaks, a few tweaks and we kind of, I felt like we hit it, you know?”
Wilson knew he wanted a female singer for the song and wanted it to start with a phone call. He wanted a British voice for the call, but the decision was made to go with an American one. The song started to catch on once it was introduced, and it really went viral once WWE created a Titantron music video to go along with it. Wilson noted that he worked with Jeremy Borash (Senior Director, Content & Development) and Rob Fee (Director of Character Development) on creating the video at the WWE Performance Center
It’s possible that Wilson will go back to his old Pretty Deadly presentation one day, but he thought it was important to have a fresh start as a singles wrestler.
“it was scary going from Pretty Deadly [to] being a singles guy, because our whole career in this company was Pretty Deadly,” he said. “And I remember kind of having a discussion, and I think I was talking to Triple H, and he said, ‘Do you still want this music? Do you still want the ‘Yes Boy?’ Do you still want this aspect?’ And I did, and I cherish so much of that. That was so much of who I was as a person. I was scared, but I just felt like if we’re going to this new chapter, we have to go. So I said, ‘I want to get rid of all of that.’ And then obviously it comes back if it comes back, but I just wanted to start new. And I think, as you say, a fresh new start is — it’s going pretty good.”
Wilson competes on SmackDown and is feuding with Matt Cardona at the moment. WWE has leaned into the popularity that his new music and video have generated, including streaming a four-hour loop of it on YouTube.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.