Cody Rhodes uses Arkansas-Pine Bluff marching band to fuel his WWE title defense

Though the Arkansas Razorbacks won on the field against the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions, the Golden Lions’ band won the fans in the stands.

On Thursday, the Arkansas-Pine Bluff band — named the “Marching Musical Machine of the Mid-South” — performed a rendition of WWE star Cody Rhodes’ theme song, “Kingdom,” during the game.

Rhodes fought Kevin Owens in the undisputed WWE title match at the Bash in Berlin on Saturday. Rhodes defeated Owens to remain the undisputed WWE champion.

Prior to his match, Rhodes heard the band’s rendition of his theme song and expressed his excitement about the performance. He said he would play the band’s version once or twice in the locker room.

Berlin had me already fired up for #WWEBash

But THIS may be played once or twice in the locker room before my match today.

Awesome stuff @UAPBM4 ❤️ https://t.co/cYA5lcG8Lw

— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) August 31, 2024

The band’s full performance went viral on X and received over 866,000 views as of Saturday evening.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff director of bands John Graham said the band members were doubtful at first once they received the piece in practice. But as they rehearsed the song, they began to love it.

“When our arranger put the song on paper for us, I looked at it [and] some of the students were shaking their heads thinking, ‘No, why are we playing this’ and then we started rehearsing it, the piece came alive,” Graham told ESPN.

“I said, ‘This is going to go.'”

“Kingdom” wasn’t arranged for the Golden Lions-Razorbacks game, but instead as a piece that could be used later in the season. However, Graham saw the Arkansas game as the perfect opportunity to debut the song in the stands.

When Graham gave the downbeat for the band to play the song, excitement filled the stadium.

“As soon as I dropped the hammer and we started playing, I looked over and saw fans reacting like, ‘They’re playing “Kingdom,”‘” Graham said. “I saw them standing up with excitement and positive reactions, and I told myself, ‘We’re in here now.’ It was a beautiful moment.”