The Acoustic Equalizer

The Acoustic Equalizer

My favorite wrestling (sports entertainment) move is the guitar shot to the head. The loud thud, the flimsy wood, and saw dust all flying through the air. I like it when the frame of the guitar gets all wrapped around the wrestler’s neck. Rather it’s The Honkey Tonk Man, Jeff Jarret, Man Mountain Rock, The Rock, or WWE’s current guitar swinger Elias, the guitar shot to the head has become iconic. One of the bloodiest guitar shots happened in 2015, when Jeff (that’s J-E-double F) Jarret hit Woken Matt Hardy with the blunt edge of an acoustic guitar resulting in 38 stitches and a night stay in the hospital. Recently rapper Post Malone started one of his shows off by being choke slammed by The Undertaker. The Undertaker would later return during the show and join Post Malone on stage in some good old-fashioned guitar smashing. Not sure if this was homage to Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend, or The Honkey Tonk Man but either way, here is a look at some of my favorite times rock and wrestling have locked up.

Voodoo Glow Skulls go Lucha Libre

The Ska/Punk outfit from Riverside, California was recently spotted playing house band on an episode of Lucha Underground on the El Ray Network.

KISS Enter/Exit The Demon

In 1998 huge Kiss fan Eric Bishoff got his favorite band to play WCW Nitro’s New Years Eve Show. Aside from performing live the band introduced their Kiss themed wrestler The Demon. Sadly, this was the lowest rated segment in Nitro history. The Kiss wrestler went on to have a shorter career then the Kiss football team.

The "All-Star Rock 'N' Wrestling Saturday Spectacular

The "All-Star Rock 'N' Wrestling Saturday Spectacular (say that three times fast) was a 1985 CBS television special to showcase their Saturday cartoon line-up of the Berenstain Bears", "The Wuzzles", "Jim Henson's Muppets, Babies, ", and of course "Hulk Hogan's Rock 'N' Wrestling". The show also featured performances by New Edition and Patti LaBelle.

The Misfits and Vampiro vs Buff Bagwell

Some people like to watch the famous internet video of Glen Danzig getting knocked out backstage. Others like to watch the videos of Jerry Only’s late 90’s band of Misfits trying to act tough in WCW.

Kid Rock

Not only was his song American Bad Ass briefly used by The Undertaker, he covered ZZ Top’s Legs for Stacy Keibler's theme, and performed live at Wrestlemania 25.

The Bad Street Band

In 1983 Michael P.S. Hayes recorded a new theme song, Bad Street USA, for his tag team The Fabulous Freebirds. This led to Hayes recording and releasing an album in 1987 and doing some live shows with his Bad Street Band. The tour was short lived and Hayes went back to wrestling. Side note before recording Bad Street USA, The Fabulous Freebirds use to come out to the ring to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Freebird or Willie Nelson’s version of Georgia on my Mind.

Juggalo World Order

Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope have both had a pretty good wrestling career, competing in ECW, WWF, WCW, NWA, and their very own Juggalo Championship Wrestling. They were also featured in the Backyard Wrestling video games. While in the WWF, the two would wrestle for free, in return the WWF would occasionally play Insane Clown Posse commercials. Say what you will, that’s dedication and a heck of a marketing scheme.

Chris Jericho

Besides being perhaps one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Chris Jericho has released seven studio albums with his heavy metal band Fozzy, been a columnist for Metal Edge Magazine, danced on Dancing with the Stars, and has made several appearances on various Vh-1 shows. He is in a category of his own when it comes to combining wrestling and music.

Motorhead and Triple H

Motorhead and the WWE have collaborated on three of Triple H’s theme Songs, The Game, King of Kings, and the theme music for Evolution. Motorhead would go on to perform at several Wrestlemania events. The WWE paid tribute to Lemmy after his death on an episode of Monday Night Raw, where Michael Cole called Lemmy a “Longtime member of [the WWE] family”. At Lemmy's funeral Triple H called him "an inspiration on how to live your life"

Cyndi Lauper was a Diva

No one on this list has made a bigger impact on the Rock n Wrestling connection then Cyndi Lauper. She helped wrestling skyrocket to mainstream success in the 80’s. Appearing on the Piper’s Pit, escorting Hulk Hogan to the ring, and managing Wendi Richter at the very first Wrestlemania, are just a few of her wrestling highlights. Her Video “The Goonies r good Enough” from The Goonies Soundtrack has appearances by Rowdy Roddy Piper, Classy Freddie Blassie, Captain Lou Albano and The Iron Sheik. Lauper’s bright colored hair and radioactive personality was the reason many kids in the 80’s tuned in and watched the WWF while it was on MTV.

References and Guitar Shots

Jeff Jarrett (Guitar smash compilation.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGG0Zyl27_w

The Honky tonk Man's Greatest Hits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhDxFZGzUlI

ALL WWE Elias's Guitar Smashes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1cPJfgRADQ

Vampiro vs "Buff" Bagwell (WcW - Monday Nitro 11/08/99)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UQCUlOx14o&t=42s

5 of the best and worst music-related wrestling gimmicks

https://www.sportskeeda.com/amp/wwe/5-of-the-best-and-worst-music-related-wrestling-gimmicks/1

10 Bands Synonomous With WWE

http://whatculture.com/music/10-bands-synonomous-with-wwe?page=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=725m-7dyOh0

How Cyndi Lauper Was Essential in the Launch of WWE WrestleMania

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2687433-how-cyndi-lauper-was-essential-in-the-launch-of-wwe-wrestlemania

A special tribute to Motörhead frontman Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister: Raw, December 28, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=725m-7dyOh0

Matt Hardy Took The Most Brutal Jeff Jarrett Guitar Shot Ever

https://uproxx.com/prowrestling/matt-hardy-guitar-shot-stitches/

XXL Post Malone,21 savage, and The Undertaker Smash Guitars

http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2018/06/post-malone-21-savage-the-undertaker-smash-guitars/