US Express: ‘Born In The USA’ Sticks More With Us Than ‘Real American’

Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham talk about their usage of iconic entrance themes.

While Rick Derringer’s “Real American” is widely associated with Hulk Hogan in 2024, the song was originally made and attributed on the WWF Wrestling Album as being the theme song of the US Express, the tag team of Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda. 

The team had been using Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” and in a new interview with Peter Rosenberg, talked about why they feel “Born in the USA” stuck more with them than “Real American.” 

“We did, but we were too stupid to hang onto it and we ended up leaving. I’m sure Hogan using it made it even more iconic. It was a cool song,” said Rotunda. 

When asked if they had the option to take the song, Rotunda said it went to Hogan because they left the promotion and Hogan made the song more iconic. 

“No. It was made, if you listen to the album, it was dedicated to two real Americans, which was Barry and I, but we ended up leaving WWE, being young and dumb, and then it was given to Hogan and he made it even more iconic because he was over as anybody as all time,” said Rotunda. 

Barry Windham chimed in, “That’s where all the music copyrights were coming in. That’s why we couldn’t use Born in the USA anymore.” 

Rotunda concluded, “Realistically, that’s what people identified us to because we did use it for quite a while. When Born in the USA hit, everybody got it. That sticks with me more than Real American. When our music hit, people knew, here we come.” 

The US Express will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2024. Learn more about their impending induction at this link. 

This will be the second induction for Barry Windham, who was inducted as part of the Four Horsemen in 2012.

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