Jim Johnston Wrote ‘No Chance In Hell’ Because He Was Upset With Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon’s theme song “No Chance In Hell” is one of the most iconic themes in WWE history and one of many great themes produced by former WWE composer Jim Johnston.
Johnston left WWE in 2017, but the themes he put together for the likes of McMahon, Steve Austin, and The Rock will live on forever.
Speaking to VICE, Johnston discussed his idea behind McMahon’s theme and how he came up with the track.
“When I was writing Vince’s No ‘Chance In Hell’ entrance theme, I had been really upset with him about something at work. I found myself thinking: ‘You’ve got no chance against this guy!’ He’s got the power, the money, and in terms of pro-wrestling, he was pretty much the only game in town. I had written the guitar groove much earlier, and I found myself singing ‘No Chance…No Chance’ over that groove. Rather than a song about one man, I wanted it to be about ’The Man’.
The song is about the work system that imprisons us all. It’s got a thrust of someone who’s kind of like marching like they’re the kind of ‘big I am’. What I loved about Vince was how he liked to be surprised. He let me take risks and if I surprised him with something and it was good then he would be delighted. But if it wasn’t good then boy he would tell you about it! I will always class him as a friend. We were creating something entirely new as the business Vince had bought from his dad didn’t have any music for the wrestlers. Our work together radically changed things and made it so much more theatrical. I’ll always be proud of that,” he stated.
Johnston said in a 2019 interview that he was pushed out by WWE. He created a new theme for PCO that was used at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2019.
WWE has gone through a series of producers since losing Johnston and has recently begun changing themes of superstars following the departure of CFO$.
