Cody Rhodes has been synonymous with his “Kingdom” entrance theme by Downstait ever since he left WWE back in 2016. But, much to the surprise of many wrestling fans, he was able to return to WWE last year and keep the song as his entrance despite using it in other promotions like AEW, New Japan, Ring of Honor and Impact Wrestling. Zack Call, Downstait’s lead vocalist, revealed in a new interview with Chris Van Vliet that there were some legal issues over bringing the song to WWE. However, Rhodes stomped out those issues by insisting that he wouldn’t return to WWE without the song.
“I don’t want to give away too much (about how Cody Rhodes was able to use Kingdom in WWE). But we were aware that Kingdom was coming and we were in a little bit of a legal battle and Cody Rhodes is absolutely the f—ing man,” Call said (h/t POST Wrestling). “We were on the phone with lawyers and agents and WWE’s lawyers and composers before, and we have been with them since 2009. And we all have regular jobs. And we just wanted our cut of the pie on this one. We know what happens when you — we’re not Joan Jett, we’re not Living Colour, but when you use a real song, they get paid, those artists get paid. It’s not a part of WWE’s work. And this is a song that we wrote.
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It was pretty close to it (Rhodes having another theme for his return),” he continued. “And then Cody, we held our silence for a little bit and I’d said my peace and I’m — my heart is in my throat and not ready to give up the song. You know, I’ve worked so hard on the song, we worked so hard on the song. And Cody just basically breaks the silence and he goes, ‘Well, you don’t get me without Kingdom’ on this conference call. All right! And he swore up and down right when he started using it that, ‘If I go back to WWE, I am taking Kingdom with me.’ And I mean, he’s been nothing but truthful with us the whole time. But you never know… when it comes down to the moment, you never know what’s going to happen. And about two weeks before we have this big make-or-break moment, it might have been two seconds of silence. It might not have been the 10 that’s in my brain right now. It might have been two hours.”
