Story Of The Year unexpectedly found themselves contributing to WWE history in 2009 when the band recorded a new version of “Just Close Your Eyes” for wrestler Christian—despite initially having no idea who he was.
The song had originally been recorded by Waterproof Blonde in 2004 and had already become closely associated with Christian during his early WWE run. Five years later, WWE brought in Story Of The Year to put their own spin on the track as Christian debuted the updated version.
For Phil Sneed, guitarist and backing vocalist for Story Of The Year, the entire experience came somewhat out of nowhere.
Speaking with The Rizzuto Show, Sneed recalled that the band was on the road when WWE reached out with a simple request: record a song for one of its wrestlers.
“When we did the WWE thing, the office called us and said, ‘There is a song, can you record it for a WWE guy?’ ‘Yeah, which one?’ At the time, we were touring and I didn’t know anything about WWE. ‘It’s a guy named Christian.’ We had never heard of him.”
With little understanding of the world they were stepping into, Story Of The Year recorded their version of the song at a friend’s studio.
The band’s compensation for the recording was reportedly just $1,000.
“We recorded this thing, they gave us $1000. ‘We’ll just do it at our buddies studio.’ We did it, passed it on, and all of a sudden are numbers are jumping everywhere.”
The band quickly realized that the recording had connected with a massive audience they hadn’t necessarily been targeting.
Sneed said Story Of The Year began seeing their numbers climb as wrestling fans embraced the new version of the song, with many listeners discovering the band through Christian’s entrance music.
“We had no idea. Wrestling fans are like, ‘This is one of the coolest entrance music ever. Christian is about to take the belt.’ ‘Oh my God, this guy is good?!?!?!’”
For a band that initially didn’t even know who Christian was, the WWE opportunity ultimately put Story Of The Year’s music in front of an entirely different audience.
Christian continued using Story Of The Year’s version of “Just Close Your Eyes” until his retirement from full-time wrestling in 2014, making the track one of the most recognizable themes associated with his career.
What began as a quick $1,000 recording session at a friend’s studio consequently became one of Story Of The Year’s more unexpected connections to professional wrestling.
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