The 1980s in pro wrestling offered 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 teams is The Midnight Express, who were crucial to tag team wrestling of the period but don’t quite get the same love as many of the above.
The Midnight Express did some of their most significant work in WCW, but made an impression in many other major promotions, and enjoyed a number of personnel changes over the years. They’re definitely a tag team fans should know about, so let’s take a look at the career of the Express, including some of the more forgotten versions.
10 Started In Alabama and Memphis
While the iconic version of the Midnight Express was formed in 1983, the group initially began in 1980 as part of Alabama-based Southeast Championship Wrestling. 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 Memphis-based Continental Wrestling Association, the Midnight Express utilized the Freebird Rule to defend the belts in various combinations, and captured myriad titles during this run, eventually breaking up in 1983.
9 Revived In Mid-South Wrestling
In late 1983, Oklahoma-based Mid-South Wrestling and CWA decided to trade some talent in order to revitalize the former, with Mid-South promoter Bill Watts taking an interest in singles wrestlers Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton, who had been rivals.
They were paired together as a new two-man iteration of the Midnight Express, and billed as “Loverboy” Dennis Condrey and “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton. Together, the duo would defeat Magnum T.A. 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 a part of CWA when Bill Watts recruited him. An undersized twerp with a big mouth, Cornette regularly used a loaded tennis racket as a weapon to ensure a tainted bad guy victory.
Jim Cornette would manage many iterations of the Midnight Express over the years, with his managerial obnoxiousness proving so effective that he and his team sometimes needed police escorts to protect from 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 tag team Rock ‘n’ Roll Express — Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson — who were next in line after The Midnight Express beat the aforementioned Magnum T.A. and Mr. Wrestling 2.
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express proved to be the perfect babyface foil to the Midnight Express, and the two teams enjoyed a rivalry that lasted years into the 2000s, and played out not only in Mid-South, but also WCW and the indie scene.
6 WCW Run
After a brief run in Dallas-based World Class Championship Wrestling where they couldn’t get into the main event scene against the 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 departed 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 AWA Version
Dennis Condrey’s abrupt departure from WCW would bring him to 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 (a.k.a. Paul Heyman) as a manager.
They captured the AWA World Tag Team Championship from Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee, but a pay dispute led the trio to quit the promotion in 1988 while still champions.
4 The AWA And WCW Versions Feuded
The schism and reformation of the original Midnight Express would pay off back in WCW, as Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose, with Paul E. Dangerously in tow, arrived in 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 Expresses at Starrcade ‘88, the rivalry did not reach its expected heights. Reportedly, various backstage issues involving the Midnights and WCW management forced the hot feud to die down.
3 Broke Up Over Backstage Politics
Backstage politics wouldn’t just kill the Midnight Express vs. Original Midnight Express feud — it would also put an end to 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.
Reportedly, the group expressed concerns that they came to a TV taping where they weren’t even booked, only to be booked to lose a series of matches in response. As a result, both Jim Cornette and Stan Lane quit the company.
2 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) managed 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 disavowed them as being a legitimate successor to the name.
1 The Originals Reunited In The 21st Century
After dissolving in 1990, the Midnight Express reformed 14 years later on the indie wrestling scene. From 2004 to 2011, Bobby Eaton, Dennis Condrey, and Stan Lane — often managed by Jim Cornette — would wrestle in various configurations, rekindling 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. The Midnight Express’ final match would happen at Juggalo Championship Wrestling’s 2011 nostalgia show Legends & Icons, where Eaton and Condrey defeated The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express in a 30-second bout.