In one of the most anticipated Wrestlemania moments and also what was one of the worst kept secrets in professional wrestling, Cody Rhodes made his return to WWE last weekend defeating Seth Rollins. After the match, he shared heartfelt comments backstage where he expressed that he’d been running from his father’s shadow his entire career. He also acknowledged his last WrestleMania match was as Stardust and added that he was ready to play the game, possibly in tribute to Triple H. But Rhodes isn’t the only one riding high since his WWE return. Fort Wayne, Indiana-based rock band Downstait has seen serious chart success for their song, “Kingdom,” since Rhodes’ return.
The song, which has been Rhodes’ entrance music since 2016, has reached No. 2 on the iTunes Top 40 US Rock Songs chart and is No. 38 overall. “Still can’t believe this is happening. Thank you everyone!” the band tweeted. “Are any radio stations playing this? We’re up against songs with radio support! Please let us know if “Kingdom” is being played in your area.” Additionally the band said that if the song reaches No. 1 in the U.S., their head of security would get an American Nightmare tattoo. Rhodes began using the song after his initial departure from WWE during his independent run before signing with AEW. In January of 2021 and for a short time after, Rhodes used a remixed version of the song by Snoop Dogg for his entrance but reverted to the original when fans made their voices heard on Twitter. “Kingdom” is not owned by AEW, so Rhodes was free to take the song with him to WWE.
Downstait played Rhodes to the ring at AEW’s 2020 “Revolution” pay-per-view and also provided entrance music for The Miz with “I Came To Play”. They recorded a version of Dolph Ziggler’s theme, “I Am Perfection, and more recently the band created the entrance song for Matt Cardona, “When The Lights Go Down.” The band formed in the early 2000s and inked a deal with Universal Records before most of the band was 21. Their songs first came to national prominence in as bumper and backing music for ESPN’s high school football coverage.
