CFO$

CFO$ (/ˌsiːɛfˈoʊs/) was an American songwriting and production duo consisting of John Paul Alicastro and Michael Conrad Lauri. They were primarily known for creating entrance music and program themes for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).^[1]

CFO$
Also known as	Arcadia Kromestatik
Origin	Long Island, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Producers, songwriters, composers, mix engineers
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar, drums, piano, production
Years active	2012–2020
Labels	WWE Music Group, Arcade Songs

Career

CFO$ joined forces with the WWE through Arcade Songs, a record label owned by Gregg Wattenberg, when it was named Wind-Up Records back in 2012.^[2] They made their musical debut on the special 1,000th episode edition of WWE Monday Night Raw, named WWE Raw 1000, which aired on July 23, 2012, when their song "The Night" was selected as the show's official main theme.^[3][4] Shortly after, they began contributing themes for main roster WWE talent.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10]}

The duo acted as WWE Music Group's executive producers and were the driving creative force behind the WWE's music department until early 2020. During their tenure, they secured two number one singles in the iTunes Soundtrack category with "The Rising Sun" for Shinsuke Nakamura^{[11][12][13][14][15]} and "Glorious Domination" for Bobby Roode.^{[16][17][18][19][20]} They further contributed theme songs and original scores to shows and programming which aired on the WWE's very own streaming service, the WWE Network.^[21][22][23]

In February 2020, it was publicly reported that CFO$ had been in a dispute with their publisher over the previous month, due to money CFO$ states was owed to them per their publishing deal. CFO$ attempted to have WWE buy them out of their publishing deal and have them work in-house but the publisher rejected the proposal. In August 2020, CFO$ were released from their recording contract and disbanded shortly afterwards. All of the production input has since been replaced by def rebel.^[24][25]

Television appearances

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Total Divas	Themselves; Alicastro and Lauri	Episode: "It's a Beautiful Life?"

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2018	Ride Along	Themselves; Alicastro and Lauri	Episode: "Ballad of Elias and Balor Club"
2018	Walk with Elias: The Documentary	Themselves; Alicastro and Lauri	WWE Network mockumentary

WWE discography

Main article: WWE Music Group discography § Themes by CFO$

See also

• Music in professional wrestling

References

1. Melok, Bobby (August 17, 2016). "Meet CFO$, the musical masterminds behind your favorite Superstar's entrance music". WWE. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
2. Hyman, Dan (September 15, 2017). "When WWE Wrestlers Need Music, They Call This Industry Insider (And No. 1 Hitmaker)". Billboard. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
3. "Behind The Music: WWE Composers – John Alicastro & Mike Lauri". Arcade Songs. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
4. Melok, Bobby (August 17, 2016). "Meet CFO$, the musical masterminds behind your favorite Superstar's entrance music". WWE. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
5. Pasbani, Robert (August 18, 2017). "WWE Music Composers CFO$ Talk Favorite Metal Bands, How They Created Some Of Your Favorite Entrance Themes". Metal Injection. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
6. Melok, Bobby (August 17, 2016). "Meet CFO$, the musical masterminds behind your favorite Superstar's entrance music". WWE. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
7. "WWE Behind the Music: Music composers Mike Lauri and John Alicastro discuss the process of creating a wrestler's entrance theme". Prowrestling.net. August 24, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
8. Heisel, Scott (August 17, 2016). "Meet The Men Who Made The Themes For Enzo Amore, Finn Bálor And More". Uproxx. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
9. Heisel, Scott (August 17, 2016). "Meet The Men Who Made The WWE Theme Songs For Enzo Amore, Finn Bálor And More". Yahoo! News. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
10. Morrow, Brendan (May 21, 2017). "Shinsuke Nakamura's Theme: What It Is & Why He Uses It". Heavy.com. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
11. Markazi, Arash (March 27, 2017). "Shinsuke Nakamura – Wrestling as an art form". ESPN. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
12. Matheson, Danielle (April 19, 2016). "Shinsuke Nakamura's NXT Theme Is Already Spawning Some Great Covers". Uproxx. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
13. Staff, WWE.com (April 7, 2016). "Get the No. 1 song on the iTunes soundtrack chart". WWE. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
14. Barnett, Josh (March 29, 2017). "Music and mystique help NXT's Shinsuke Nakamura thrive". USA Today. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
15. "CFO$ on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
16. Rose, Ash (August 26, 2016). "Why Bobby Roode's 'Glorious' is so glorious". TalkSPORT. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
17. Atkin, Nicolas (November 16, 2016). "Pain and glory: Bobby Roode's journey to WWE". ESPN. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
18. Keller, Wade (October 4, 2016). "Bobby Roode talks about his entrance music taking off and reflections on time with TNA (w/Kellers Analysis)". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
19. Examiner, Peterborough (August 23, 2016). "Bobby Roode's music No. 1 on iTunes chart". The Peterborough Examiner. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
20. "CFO$ on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
21. Lambert, Jeremy (October 3, 2018). "CFO$ Discuss Their Process In Creating Music For WWE". Fightful. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
22. "Meet the CFO$ | Toontrack artist profile". YouTube. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
23. "The Music of the WWE Network by CFO$ & Jim Johnston". Apple Music. April 14, 2014. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
24. Henry, Justin (February 20, 2020). "Update On Why Theme Music Creators CFO$ No Longer Work For WWE". Cultaholic. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
25. Sapp, Sean Ross (February 20, 2020). "Exclusive: Why CFO$ Isn't Working With WWE". Fightful Wrestling. Retrieved December 25, 2020.

External links

• CFO$ on Twitter  
• CFO$ on Instagram  
• CFO$ on iTunes