The 1980s in professional wrestling featured a number of legendary tag teams, including The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express and The Road Warriors in WCW, The British Bulldogs and The Hart Foundation in WWE, and The Von Erichs in WCCW. Among those tag teams is The Midnight Express, who were crucial to tag team wrestling at the time, but don’t get the same love as many of their predecessors.
The Midnight Express did some of their most significant work in WCW, but made a huge impression on many other major promotions and enjoyed a number of personnel changes over the years. They’re definitely a team fans should know about, so let’s take a look at the Express’ run, including some of the more overlooked versions.
10 It started in Alabama and Memphis
While the iconic version of Midnight Express was formed in 1983, the group initially started in 1980 as part of Alabama-based Championship Wrestling Southeast. There Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose formed the original Midnight Express, bringing in Norvell Austin to turn the group into a trio.
Wrestling for SECW and the Memphis-based Continental Wrestling Association, Midnight Express used the Freebird rule to defend the belts in various combinations and captured countless titles during this run, eventually breaking up in 1983.
9 Revived in mid-south wrestling
In late 1983, Oklahoma-based Mid-South Wrestling and the CWA decided to trade some talent to reinvigorate the former, and Mid-South promoter Bill Watts became interested in singles wrestlers Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton, who had been rivals.
They were paired as a two-man remake of the Midnight Express, and billed as “Loverboy” Dennis Condrey and “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton. Together, the duo would defeat Magnum TA and Mr. Wrestling 2 to win the Mid-South Tag Team Championship.
8 Managed by Jim Cornette
It was in Mid-South Wrestling that The Midnight Express also gained a crucial part of their act as heels: manager Jim Cornette, who was also part of the CWA when Bill Watts recruited him. Cornette, a petite jerk with a big mouth, regularly used a loaded tennis racket as a weapon to ensure victory for a corrupt baddie.
Jim Cornette would run many iterations of the Midnight Express over the years, and his managerial hatred proved so effective that he and his crew sometimes needed police escorts to ward off attacks from angry fans.
7 Rivalry with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express
Along with Dennis Condrey, Bobby Eaton and Jim Cornette, Bill Watts also acquired the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express tag team, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, who were next in line after The Midnight Express beat the aforementioned Magnum. TA and Mr. Wrestling. two.
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express proved to be the perfect complement to the babyface of the Midnight Express, and the two teams enjoyed a rivalry that lasted for years into the 2000s, playing out not only in the Mid-South, but in WCW as well. and the independent scene. .
6 WCW career
After a brief run in Dallas-based World Class Championship Wrestling where they were unable to break into the main event scene against Von Erichs, Jim Cornette and The Midnight Express found a new home in Jim Crockett Promotions, which would later become WCW.
After a run with the NWA World Tag Team Championship, Dennis Condrey left WCW, forcing the Midnight Express to find a new member in “Sweet” Stan Lane. Together, Lane and Eaton captured the NWA United States Tag Team Championship three times, as well as the NWA World Tag Team Championship, and feuded with the Road Warriors.
5 The AW version
Dennis Condrey’s abrupt departure from WCW would land him in Verne Gagne’s Midwest-based American Wrestling Association in 1987. There, he reunited with his original tag team partner Randy Rose, using the Midnight Express name and adopting Paul E. Dangerously (aka Paul Heyman). like a manager.
They captured the AWA World Tag Team Championship from Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee, but a pay dispute led the trio to leave the promotion in 1988 while they were still champions.
4 The AWA and WCW versions feuded
The schism and reformation of the original Midnight Express would pay off in WCW, as Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose, with Paul E. Dangerously in tow, came to the promotion to feud with Stan Lane, Bobby Eaton and manager Jim Cornette.
While the feud resulted in a strong match between the two Midnight Express at starrcade ’88, the rivalry did not reach the expected heights. Reportedly, various backstage issues involving Midnights and WCW management forced the white-hot feud to die down.
3 Broke by behind the scenes politics
Behind-the-scenes politics would not only end the Midnight Express vs. Original Midnight Express, it would also end the team’s WCW run entirely. The current iteration of the group, Eaton, Lane and Cornette, found themselves at odds with WCW and its controversial president, Jim Herd, as well as booker Ole Anderson.
The group reportedly raised concerns that they came to a TV taping where they weren’t even booked, only to be booked and lose a series of matches in response. As a result, both Jim Cornette and Stan Lane left the company.
two The New Midnight Express In WWE
In 1997, WWE staged an invasion storyline involving the National Wrestling Alliance, led by Jim Cornette and featuring The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dan Severn, and others. As part of the angle, the Midnight Express concept was revived, with Bodacious Bart (Bart Gunn) and Bombastic Bob (Bob Holly) directed by Jim Cornette.
While the New Midnight Express enjoyed a 137-day reign with the NWA World Tag Team Championship, the group failed to gain traction in WWE, and even Cornette has denied them as legitimate successors to the name.
1 The originals reunited in the 21st century
After disbanding in 1990, Midnight Express reformed 14 years later on the independent wrestling scene. From 2004 to 2011, Bobby Eaton, Dennis Condrey, and Stan Lane, often managed by Jim Cornette, would wrestle in various configurations, reigniting their old rivalries with The Fantastics, The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, and The Steiner Brothers.
Other opponents during this run included Team 3D, Mick Foley, and The Funk Brothers. Midnight Express’s final match would occur at the 2011 Juggalo Championship Wrestling nostalgia show legends and iconswhere Eaton and Condrey defeated The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express in a 30 second match.