Despite the financial side of things, he states that WWE has treated the band well.
Dating back to the early 2000s, while Rey Mysterio is with WWE, he’s used the ‘Booyaka 619’ theme that the band P.O.D. created.
Sonny Sandoval, lead vocalist and co-founder of P.O.D., guest appeared on Drinks With Johnny and spoke about the song and their business dealings with WWE. He mentioned that WWE has asked to use their music but instead of the band being paid, the financial compensation is substituted for publicity.
He brought up the song being used at WrestleMania XL and the band not seeing anything from that.
Sometimes, we’ve done stuff with WWE and because WWE is so huge, they’re so powerful of an empire, even back then. But they can say, ‘Can we use your music?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Okay. We’re not gonna pay you for it. But because we’re WWE, you’re gonna get so much press’ and you know what I mean? ‘And get so much hype’ and at some point, you’re like, ‘Dang, okay.’ I guess so. Because even now, I still hear it when Rey comes out. Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania… You’re like, ‘Dude, they’re still playing our jam.’ Big shout out to Mad One. It’s like, they’re still playing our tune but we ain’t seeing none of that… It’s a game bro. It’s a game.
Speaking about Rey Mysterio individually, Sonny said he’s a good friend of the band and they went to school together. He detailed how Mysterio using Booyaka 619 came to be.
Sandoval added that it’s been a pleasure and an honor for Rey to use the song and whenever WWE is in San Diego, California, he’s always welcomed and shown hospitality.
Rey (Mysterio) is actually one of our good boys from here in the south so we went to the same school together. We would tinker around with music and he was crossing the border and wrestling down in T.J., lucha libre and you know, we kind of found a little success at the same time. We connected on some other things, but then he already had the song, his walkout song with another local Chicano rapper here in San Diego called Mad One and then so the WWE had done — at the time, they wanted to do a lot of their remixes, their walkout song remixes and kind of add maybe like a little metal flare to it or rock and roll flare to it. So, I’m pretty sure it was Rey that put in the word for us and said, ‘Well, if we’re gonna pick a rock band, I’m going to pick POD. Those are my boys.’ So, we got the call and it was a no-brainer. It was like, alright. All we had to do is kind of remix it with some guitars and bass and drums, you know? Add some extra vocals and I mean, it’s been a pleasure and honor ever since. We actually did the WrestleMania in Chicago when Rey got the belt, and so, we’ve been able to be a part of that. Every time they come through San Diego, if I want, I hit up the homie and get the hookup and say, ‘Hey, I want to bring my kids through’ and they always so gracious. Even to come out and meet my kids and stuff so, they’ve been good to us. So, I think just recently when they did WrestleMania, we have a friend, he’s a DJ. This kid who’s coming up and we’re trying to get him to remix one of our songs, you know? And I guess he said, ‘Oh dude, I’m going to WrestleMania’ and I was like, ‘Hold on. Let me put you in contact with my boy. Maybe he could,’ you know? It’s WrestleMania. He might not have a shot but, we’ll see. So, at least they got in contact and he told him, ‘Hey, whenever we come through the area, you can just hit me up.’ So, yeah, they’ve been good to us.
The night that Rey won the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 22, P.O.D. performed him to the ring.
Mysterio was in action throughout WWE’s tour of Japan over the weekend. He challenged for the World Heavyweight Title on night two of the tour.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Drinks With Johnny with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
