Here’s Why Mega Ran Was Featured on WWE Star Xavier Woods’ New Theme Song

Fans of Mega Ran might’ve heard a familiar voice if they tuned in to the most recent edition of WWE SmackDown. That’s because vocals by the Phoenix-based geek rapper are featured in the new theme song for WWE superstar Xavier Woods, which made its debut on the November 5 episode of the show.

The untitled hip-hop track, which also includes vocals by Canadian rapper Sayzee, was created by WWE Music Group, the company’s in-house record label and music production studio. It was inspired by Woods winning the WWE’s “King of the Ring” tournament last month. Mega Ran can be heard rapping such lines as "Bow down!" in the theme.

The rapper, an avowed wrestling fan since childhood, told Phoenix New Times he was ecstatic about being featured on a WWE theme song.

“It's like the culmination of a boyhood dream, to paraphrase that one Shawn Michaels promo,” he says. “Being in a theme song is pretty much the goal of anyone who makes music and loves wrestling.”
Mega Ran’s inclusion in the theme song was born out of his friendship with Woods, which dates back to 2013. Fittingly, the two met after the WWE superstar discovered the rapper while searching the internet for potential theme music for his then-embryonic tag team The New Day.

They became fast friends after bonding over a mutual love of wrestling, music, and video games (Woods is an avid gamer who created the WWE’s long-running YouTube series UUDD). The pair have also collaborated a few times over the years, including the time when Mega Ran appeared on an episode of SmackDown as a member of The New Day’s posse during a rap battle with the Uso brothers in 2017. (Mega Ran says he helped prep Woods and his teammates for the battle.)

They’ve also created hip-hop tracks together, including the 2019 single “Sunset Flip,” but Woods told New Times through Mega Ran he’s wanted to Woods has wanted to use the rapper for one of his theme songs.

“I’ve wanted this man to do my theme music for years,” Woods says. “I stalked him, emailed him, wooed him, took him to WrestleMania with my family. Finally, all my courting paid off.”

It finally happened earlier this month and came together quickly. Mega Ran says Woods called him on November 1 about contributing to the theme song.
“He was like, ‘I think they're going to do some new music for me [because of winning] King of the Ring. Would you be interested in getting involved?’ And I'm like, ‘Woah, absolutely,’” Mega Ran says. “By the end of the day, [WWE] sent me a backing track and said, ‘If you can finish this by the end of the week, I think we can use this on TV.’

The rapper got to work, recording his vocals two days later at HandKrafted Studios in west Phoenix. He got word the day the episode aired that his contribution would be included.

“I didn't know until Friday afternoon it was going to air on [SmackDown] that night,” he says.

WWE has a long history of featuring rappers, rock bands, and other recording artists on its theme songs for more than 30 years. Starting in 2000, the company began tapping hip-hop artists such as Run DMC, Method Man, Ice-T, and Snoop Dogg for its themes and the album WWE Aggression.

“They did a ton of rap remixes on that albums. Run DMC’s D-Generation X song [“The Kings”] is my favorite version of that theme,” Mega Ran says. "WWE has worked with a who's who of great rap artists over the years.”

Mega Ran says he feels “honored” to now be a part of that musical pantheon.

"It’s like I'm officially canon in the WWE universe, which is amazing,” he says.