When Keith Lee first popped up on Monday Night Raw this week, fans quickly noticed something was different about Lee’s presentation — his entrance theme, “Limitless,” had been replaced by a generic rock song with only the first few lines remaining. Fans hated the change, as Lee’s rapping in the song had been a staple of his entrances since he first arrived in NXT. More information about why the change was made has since come out via Sean Ross Sapp at Fightful Select.
According to Sapp, the change was made due to WWE’s former relationship with the music-producing duo CFO$. The group — John Paul Alicastro and Michael Conrad Lauri — had been making entrance themes for the WWE since 2013 but quietly parted ways with the company in May of last year. The group had signed a deal with Arcade Songs that would send 50% of music royalties back to the publishing company. The pair (who have since broken up) tried to have WWE buy them out of their contracts, but Arcade turned down the offer. The promotion is now pushing for Superstars to use themes that weren’t made by CFO$, and “Limitless” was one of the last tracks the group produced. Lee signed off on making the change, though other wrestlers have chosen to stick with their original themes.
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Since April, WWE’s music has been made by a new group known as Def Rebel.
Lee’s debut didn’t quite go as many fans planned, as his first match with Randy Orton ended in an unceremonious disqualification loss. The two will clash this Sunday at the Payback pay-per-view.
In an interview with ComicBook this week, WWE Champion Drew McIntyre talked about the history he has with Lee that could lead to a WWE Championship feud in the future.
“We do have history,” McIntyre said. “When he was showing up in Evolve, after making a name for himself around the independent scene, he powerbombed me right out of the company, I returned to NXT right after that powerbomb, the last thing that happened to me in Evolve. And then, in NXT I tore my bicep, I never really had my good-bye. To the crowd, I returned the one night during the Survivor Series period. I Claymored [Dominik] Dijakovic, had my little, ‘I’m back, everybody! I never got my good-bye,’ [moment]. Who’s there to powerbomb me back out of NXT? Keith Lee! I have a history of him powerbombing me every time he sees me. So now either away, he’s showing up on Raw, so I’m going to have eyes on the back of my head in case Keith tries to sneak up behind me, try and powerbomb me again.”
