Lawsuit Filed Against John Cena, WWE, & TKO Over Allegations of Cena’s Theme Song Samples Other Song Without Proper Permission or Credit

Post Wrestling and Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that a new lawsuit was filed against WWE, TKO, and John Cena this week in the Southern District Court of New York.

Thurston reported that this lawsuit accuses Cena, WWE, TKO, and others of using an unlicensed sample to create Cena’s “The Time Is Now” entrance theme song. Specifically, this legal dispute reportedly revolves around the iconic horn arrangements that introduce and play throughout the theme song.

Thurston reported that this lawsuit was filed by the Kim Schofield and claims that the horn-driven intro and outro used in Cena’s theme song were copied from a 1974 cover recording by her father Pete Schofield. In the filing, Schofield stated that she now owns the copyrights to the record and the music is an original arrangement.

In the filing, Schofield claimed that while her father’s recording was itself a cover of a Bobby Russell song, the horn intro and outro added were original. Schofield is claiming that those are the parts that were allegedly sampled for Cena’s theme song.

Schofield also claimed that in 2017, she had reached a written settlement deal with WWE and received a one-time payment of $50,000. In regards to her lawsuit, Schofield is claiming that WWE withheld key information during negotiations to induce her to sign the agreement.

Thurston reported that music producer “Jake One” Jacob Brian Dutton, music publisher Pix-Russ Music, and Cynthia Jo Russell were also named as defendants in the lawsuit. Dutton reportedly is the producer who mixed Cena’s theme and both Pix-Russ Music and Cynthia Jo holds the rights to the Russell recording.

In regards to the song in dispute, Thurston reported “the sampled material in Cena’s theme comes from Pete Schofield’s instrumental 1974 cover of “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” which added original horn parts not present in the original song composed by Russell, and memorably recorded by Vicki Lawrence as a hit single in 1973, and later re-recorded by Reba McEntire.”

Schofield is claiming that the horn elements in Cena’s theme song are from the Schofield version and are not present in the Russell version of the song.

Schofield reportedly also claimed that her family did not know about the sampling used for Cena’s theme song until 2015 when a reporter writing a story about Cena’s theme had contacted her.

Thurston reported that Dutton’s own account appears to support Schofield’s timeline. Dutton reportedly released a video on YouTube in 2021 where “he shows the Schofield album cover while explaining how he looped its intro and outro to build the beat. Dutton says in the video that he was paid $60,000 upfront for his work on the song. A more recent ESPN article from just last week, focusing on the theme song, says Dutton was paid $30,000 “for three beats.”

Schofield is currently asking the court to void the 2017 settlement agreement her family had with WWE over allegations that WWE withheld information about the long-term use of the sample and an upcoming national ad campaign. This ad in question reportedly was a Toyota television ad featuring Cena’s theme and the family claimed that they were never told about the campaign and only learned of it later. Thurston reported that the Schofield family lives in Canada and the ad did not air there.

Schofield also claimed that WWE had told her family that the song had limited value and dismissed their request for writing credit as “greedy” and “opportunistic.”

Thurston reported that the Schofield famly does not claim ownership of the original Bobby Russell version and instead they only claim that the intro and outro are the Schofields’ original copyrightable work.

Thurston also reported that Kim Schofield had registered two copyrights with the United States Copyright Office in 2024 and 2025. One was for the key musical arrangement elements used in the Schofield version and the other was for the full 1974 sound recording. The Russell estate and its music publisher Pix-Russ were stated to have challenged the registrations arguing that the Schofield arrangement is an unauthorized derivative work. The lawsuit reportedly claims that the Russell side accepted royalties for horn parts.

Besides asking for the settlement deal with WWE to be invalidated, Schofied reportedly is also currently asking the court for damages in excess of $150,000.

The lawsuit reportedly also claims that WWE had violated the terms of their 2017 settlement deal by releasing a 2019 version of Cena’s “The Time Is Now” theme song under a different title of “The Camp Is Here” that included a newly recorded imitation of the horns sample. Schofield stated that is a type of reuse that was prohibited in the settlement deal.

Schofield is also claiming that WWE failed to provide proper credit to “PS Records” as the settlement deal required.

Thurston reported that the defendants have not yet filed a response and recent court records do not show that any of them have formally recieved the lawsuit yet.