‘Bad Reputation’ has been Rousey’s walkout song for years and now Jett will perform it live to kick off her historic WrestleMania main event.
The WWE is pulling out all the stops for their first all-women WrestleMania main event on April 7th. On Monday they announced that a ‘Triple Threat’ match between Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair would headline WrestleMania 35. And now they’ve revealed that Ronda Rousey will make the walk down to the squared circle with the help Joan Jett playing her hit Bad Reputation live.
Bad Reputation has been Rousey’s walkout song for the majority of her MMA career and her current run with the WWE. It’s been a big hit with fans, and Joan Jett herself.
Breaking: @joanjett will perform @WrestleMania @MetLifeStadium Jett will play her hit song “Bad Reputation” as WWE Raw Women’s Champion @RondaRousey makes ring entrance and defends her title in the main event against @WWE Superstars @BeckyLynchWWE and @MsCharlotteWWE pic.twitter.com/XecQqp624n
— WWE Public Relations (@WWEPR) March 26, 2019
“I’m really amazed when people utilize our music to represent them in something that they do,” Jett told CM Punk in an interview for AXS TV. “So I thought it was so great that she walks out to Bad Reputation.”
Rousey explained how the Joan Jett anthem became her walkout song of choice in a 2015 interview with The Wall Street Journal.
“Lots of professional fighters want their walkout song to sound like the Rocky theme — you know, regal and inspiring,” Rousey said. “I’m more on the theatrical side, so I needed something gritty, with a lot of attitude. My walkout theme used to be ‘Sex and Violence’ by the Exploited, a Scottish punk band. It’s loud and brash, and the title’s words are pretty much it for the song’s lyrics.”
”Then in 2011, I was fighting with Strikeforce, when Showtime wanted to air my bout on its late-night premium channel,” she continued. “That was a big break, but Showtime thought my song was inappropriate. It was hard to choose a new one. I tried some Rage Against the Machine songs, but none of them felt right. Then my godfather’s son suggested Joan Jett’s ‘Bad Reputation’ from 1981. I had just heard the song on my car radio in the parking lot of the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.”
It’s unclear at this point if Lynch and Flair will get their own live accompaniment for the Triple Threat match, or if any of the other WWE superstars will for WrestleMania 35. As of right now, it’s just another sign that Rousey is considered one of the biggest draws on the roster, and they’re pulling out all the stops to make her historic main event one for the ages.