The Midnight Express (professional wrestling)

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The Midnight Express
Bart Gunn
Rikki Nelson
Jimmy Hart (manager)
Jim Cornette (manager)
Paul E. Dangerously
(manager)
Debut1980
Disbanded2011

The Midnight Express was the name used by several

Mid-South Wrestling by teaming up Condrey and Bobby Eaton, with Cornette as their manager. After leaving Mid-South, the Midnight Express competed briefly in WCCW (Dallas) before moving on to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). Condrey left in 1987, and was replaced by Stan Lane. Eaton and Lane (still managed by Cornette) competed in JCP and WCW, where they briefly feuded with "The Original Midnight Express" of Condrey and Rose (managed by Paul E. Dangerously). This version of the Midnight Express disbanded in October 1990 when Cornette and Lane left WCW. In 1998, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) teamed up Bob Holly and Bart Gunn
as "The Midnight Express", who were also managed by Jim Cornette. From 2004 until 2011 various combinations of Condrey, Eaton, and Lane competed as The Midnight Express on the independent circuit.

History

Dennis Condrey, Randy Rose and Norvell Austin (1980–1983)

In 1980 a new team was formed in

the film's theme by Giorgio Moroder as their theme music), but from the fact that they all dressed in black, drove black cars, and were out partying past midnight.[3]

Together the three men won the AWA Southern Tag Team title in the CWA and invoked

Scott Armstrong
, Austin, Condrey and Rose went their separate ways.

Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton (1983–1987)

When Bobby Eaton was sent to Mid-South Wrestling under promoter Bill Watts as part of a talent trade it was decided that he should be part of the new version of the Midnight Express. Eaton joined with former rival Dennis Condrey under the management of Jim Cornette in this incarnation of the team. The Express had until this point been a group of wrestlers, but now worked exclusively as a two-man team.[5] To complement "Loverboy" Dennis Condrey, Eaton was nicknamed "Beautiful Bobby", a nickname he continued using. The Express was first booked in a storyline with the Mid-South Tag Team champions Magnum T. A. and Mr. Wrestling II. The highlight of the angle saw Eaton and Condrey tarring and feathering Magnum T. A. in the middle of the ring. Condrey and Eaton won their first tag team championship when Mr. Wrestling II turned on Magnum T. A. and attacked him during a match, allowing The Midnight Express to walk away with the titles without much opposition. Collectively Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton held 53 tag team titles, setting the record in all of professional wrestling. During the Midnight's Express time in Mid-South, Wendi Richter was made an honorary member by Jim Cornette.[6]

With Mr. Wrestling II and Magnum T. A. splitting up, the Midnight Express needed a new team to defend their newly won title against. This team was

The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson), with whom they started a long-running series of matches that would last well into the 1990s and span several wrestling promotions. The two Expresses had a series of matches which differed from the way tag team wrestling was presented at the time and drew attention both locally and nationally.[5]
The two teams feuded throughout 1984 in Mid-South Wrestling before the Midnight Express left the promotion to work elsewhere.

the Road Warriors at Starrcade '86

The Midnight Express had a short stay in

Starrcade 1986, which the Midnight Express lost and where Jim Cornette famously hurt his knee when he fell off the scaffold.[8]

Reformation with Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane (1987–1988)

In March 1987, Dennis Condrey suddenly left JCP without giving any reason, leaving Eaton without a partner. Bubba Rogers worked a few dates to fulfill obligations, but Dusty Rhodes made the decision to pick Stan Lane who was a singles star in Florida at the time. Tom Prichard was thought about, but never officially suggested.[5]

Eaton and Lane reached the semi-finals of the Crockett Cup Tag Team Tournament on April 11, 1987, in Baltimore. On May 16, 1987, the combination of Eaton and Lane won the

World Wrestling Federation). The Midnight Express's title run only lasted a little over a month and a half before the Road Warriors (who had recently turned heel on Sting) took the gold from them in a brutal match.[1]

Feud of the Midnight Expresses (1988–1989)

Meanwhile, Condrey eventually signed a contract to wrestle for the AWA, which at the time was recording television in Las Vegas; Condrey was living in Colorado at the time. He reconnected with former Midnight Express member Randy Rose and the two began teaming as the Midnight Express under the management of Paul E. Dangerously. The unit won the AWA World Tag Team Championship in October 1987 after defeating Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee, then “lost” the titles to The Midnight Rockers in December. In reality, Condrey and AWA owner Verne Gagne were in a dispute over money owed to Condrey and he, Rose, and Dangerously all left the promotion in early 1988 while still being promoted as champions; the AWA decided to retroactively declare the Midnights/Rockers match in December to be a title change in favor of the latter.

About a year later, on an episode of World Championship Wrestling, Cornette received an on-air phone call from someone who was claiming to be anonymous; Cornette recognized the man’s voice and challenged him to come out and speak his piece to his face. The man turned out to be Paul E. Dangerously, and he, Condrey, and Rose came out and attacked Cornette and Lane during a singles match featuring the latter. This began one of the most anticipated feuds in the tag team division, with Eaton and Lane facing off against Condrey and Rose.

Despite the success the feud had generated early on, the battle between the Midnight Express and the Original Midnight Express eventually petered out.[5] Cornette contended in a shoot interview that backstage politics and animosity between the Original Midnights, promotion head Jim Crockett and head booker George Scott led to the feud being cooled off.

The Midnight Express in WCW (1989–1990)

Due to various differences over the direction of the Midnight Express, Cornette, Lane, and Eaton also left JCP briefly, a few months after Ted Turner purchased the company and it was renamed World Championship Wrestling (WCW). When the issues were resolved, Cornette and the Midnight Express returned to the promotion. In the tournament to determine new World tag team champions, the Midnight Express advanced to the finals before losing to the Freebirds with some assistance from the Samoan Swat Team. They engaged in a feud with the Freebirds and Samoans until the 1989 Great American Bash, where they teamed up with the Road Warriors and Dr. Death Steve Williams to defeat the Freebirds and Samoans in a War Games match.

The Midnight Express soon turned heel as a result of a feud with the Dynamic Dudes (

Clash of the Champions IX in New York. The Dynamic Dudes gained a measure of revenge when the Midnight Express laid out an open challenge for any team for $10,000. After dispatching of a couple of no-name teams, the Express was challenged by the masked Dynamic Duo, billed from Gotham City
, who pinned the Express and unmasked as Ace and Douglas. The feud soon lost steam and was forgotten soon after.

After returning to their cheating ways, the Midnight Express started a feud with the up-and-coming team of

The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) three months later.[1] They were then defeated at Halloween Havoc 1990 by Tommy Rich and Ricky Morton.[9]

On October 29, 1990, the Express showed up to the

World Wide Wrestling TV tapings in Anderson, South Carolina, only to discover they were not on the card for any of the shows. Since they were not told ahead of time, Eaton was unable to take the day off to spend time with his wife and children. Cornette, already frustrated over what he perceived as the burial of Lane and Eaton by WCW President Jim Herd, discovered the next day that the Express was booked for four matches at the October 30 World Championship Wrestling TV tapings in Atlanta, Georgia, and they were to lose all of them. After confronting Ole Anderson, the booker at the time, over the scheduling, Cornette was told to "go home" if he disagreed. Calling Anderson's bluff, Cornette walked out of the room and told Lane he was leaving for good. Lane decided that he was going to quit as well, and after they said goodbye to Eaton (who decided to stay due to his family obligations), both men left and began heading north toward Charlotte, North Carolina; it was not until Anderson came looking for Cornette and Lane later that he realized they had quit after questioning Eaton of their whereabouts. So, for the first time in almost a decade, there was no Midnight Express.[5]

Bart Gunn and Bob Holly (1998)

The Midnight Express name was resurrected by the

angle. On March 30, 1998, they won the NWA World Tag Team Championship from The Headbangers, but did not achieve much more success in the WWF. Despite the name "Midnight Express" and having Cornette in their corner, in shoot interviews Cornette has indicated that he never considered the team as continuing the lineage of the Midnight Express.[citation needed
]

Midnight Express reunited (2004–2011)

In 2003, Eaton worked for NWA Mid-Atlantic forming a new version of the Midnight Express with Rikki Nelson. This version was short-lived as Eaton soon started working independent wrestling cards with Dennis Condrey, sometimes with Lane and Cornette as well. Often they would be booked in matches against old rivals the Rock 'n' Roll Express, including the NWA 60th Anniversary Show in Atlanta, Georgia on June 7, 2008, and their final match at JCW's "Legends & Icons" show in August 2011.

Members

Championships and accomplishments

Austin and Condrey

Austin and Rose

  • NWA Southeastern Championship Wrestling
    • NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship(Southern Division) (1 time)[11]

Condrey and Eaton

Condrey and Rose

Rose and Starr

Stan Lane (left) and Bobby Eaton with the NWA United States Tag Team Championship, 1988

Eaton and Lane

Eaton and Nelson

Holly and Gunn

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-9698161-5-4
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6
    .
  3. ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6
    . "At one time, we all dressed in black. We had black Lincolns, black automobiles and everything else, and we were all out until midnight, so we went as the Midnight Express.
  4. ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6
    .
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6
    .
  6. ^ WWE Network Wendi Richter vs Princess Victoria
  7. ^ "WCCW Parade of Champions Results (1985)". ProWrestlingHistory. Retrieved February 19, 2007.
  8. ^ "WCW Starrcade Results (1986)". ProWrestlingHistory. Retrieved February 19, 2007.
  9. ^ "WCW Halloween Havoc Results (1990)". ProWrestlingHistory. Retrieved February 19, 2007.
  10. ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0
    .
  11. ^ "NWA Southeastern Tag Team Title". Retrieved February 17, 2020.
  12. ^ "Independent Wrestling Results – December 2004". onlineworldofwrestling.com. Retrieved July 5, 2008.
  13. ^ "UCW Tag Team Championship". Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  14. ISBN 978-0-9698161-5-7
    .
  15. ^ "N.W.A. American Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  16. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4
    .
  17. ^ "Southern Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  18. ^ "Pro Wrestling History". prowrestlinghistory.com. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  19. ^ "SECW 198308 Results".
  20. ^ "ASWA Georgia Team Team Title". Wrestling.titles.com.

External links

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