The title of the song was not certain from the beginning. For a while the writers seriously considered calling it “Survival.” The original version of the chorus was: “It’s the eye of the tiger, it’s the thrill of the fight, rising up to the spirit of our rival, and the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night, and it all comes down to survival.” The word “rival” had been placed there to rhyme neatly with “survival.” Even so, by the end of the day they understood that the real hook of the song was somewhere else. “Eye Of The Tiger” was such a strong hook, such a clear image, such an immediate blow, that any thought of giving it another title started to seem almost ridiculous. As Peterik put it, they realized they would be crazy to let it go. “Rival” did not even need to make a perfect rhyme with “tiger.” So they made the right choice and kept “Eye Of The Tiger” as the title.