[Stardust]

The Midnight Express were one of the most popular tag teams throughout the '80's. Below, is a look at the team from their earliest beginnings until their eventual breakup in 1990.

All Aboard

Cowboy Bill Watts ran the Mid-South territory and had built it up into a major area. The end of 1983 saw Watts looking for some new blood for his area. He turned to Jerry Jarrett’s area and hired away Bill Dundee to be his new booker. Dundee eventually brought in The Rock 'n Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson), Terry Taylor and The Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton) with manager Jim Cornette.

The Midnight Express was not new to the wrestling world. Randy Rose, Norvell Austin, The Mongolian Stomper and Ron Starr had all once been members with Rose, Austin and Condrey laying claim to the moniker for the longest, having worked the Southeastern territory in Alabama as the Express and later moving to Memphis. But this version of the Express was different than any other version.

Condrey was a solid in-ring performer and Eaton had proven to be excellent in-ring as well. Together neither one of them was all that great during interviews, which maybe why Jim Cornette came along as manager.

Cornette was like Eaton in some ways. He grew up watching Nick Gulas wrestling in the Louisville area. Eventually, he became a ringside photographer and writer for some wrestling publications until finally, at the urging of Christine Jarrett, Jerry Jarrett gave Cornette a chance to be a wrestling manager. Cornette did well, but in Memphis he lived in the shadow of Jimmy Hart. With the exception of the summer of 1983 when Cornette managed The Dynasty (Carl Fergie, The Angel, Norman Frederick Charles, III and Jerry Novak) in the short-lived Georgia Championship Wrestling Superstars promotion, Cornette had never had a territory to himself as a manager. With Mid-South, Cornette would not only get the chance but use that opportunity to redefine the role of a manager in pro wrestling.

The Midnight Express hit the Mid-South area with a fury and almost immediately began challenging the Mid-South tag champions, Mr. Wrestling II and Magnum T.A. The Midnight's used lots of opportunities to get to II and T.A. They tarred and feathered T.A. and took belts to II and T.A. Eventually the Midnight's won the Mid-South tag titles when II turned on T.A.

No sooner had the Midnight's won the titles than they were challenged by The Rock 'n Roll Express. Condrey, Eaton, Morton and Gibson had often worked with and against each other in various combinations through the years. They were very familiar with one another and the matches they began to have, booked Memphis-style by Dundee, were unlike matches that had been held in Mid-South in years. The Rock 'n Rolls appealed to the younger female set while Cornette and the Midnight's did nothing but irritate the fans.

The feud continued for months with the tag titles bouncing back and forth between the two teams. Eventually the feud came to a turning point. The Midnight's had won the tag titles and Cornette decided to throw a party to celebrate on TV. As often happens, the party got spoiled when the Rock 'n Roll's rushed in and smashed Cornette into the cake face first.

At the end of the TV show, Cowboy Bill Watts, who also served as commentator was still chuckling about the cake incident and even aired a replay of it. Cornette stormed out and claimed he would sue everybody in sight because of the incident. Watts shrugged off Cornette’s rant but Cornette grabbed Watts and continued his tirade. Watts warned Cornette and turned away but Cornette grabbed Watts again. This time Watts turned and popped Cornette in the mouth sending the manager sprawling.

On the following TV show, Watts conducted an interview with the area’s lead heel, Butch Reed. Cornette came out and just outside of camera range began needling Watts. As Watts was preoccupied with Cornette, Condrey and Eaton rushed in and clobbered him, leaving him busted up in the ring. In a very subtle move, Reed, the area’s lead heel, briefly watched the attack on Watts, shook his head and walked away in disbelief, putting over the fact that not even the number one bad guy in the territory wanted to be a part of what was going down.

Later, Watts returned and vowed to climb back in the ring one last time to get even with Cornette, Condrey and Eaton. Watts even suggested that he would put up controlling interest in Mid-South sports to get the Midnight's and if he lost, he would work for Cornette. However, if the Midnight's lost, Cornette would have to wear a pink dress. For a partner, Watts turned to Mid-South superstar Junkyard Dog, in his guise as Stagger Lee. The event billed as "The Last Stampede" drew record gates around the Mid-South area.

After the run with Watts, the Midnight's would continue to feud with the Rock 'n Rolls. By the end of 1984 though, the Midnight's were about to move on.

Dallas, Texas was the next stop for the trio of Condrey, Eaton and Cornette. The World Class territory had been run for years by Fritz Von Erich and featured his sons, Kerry, Kevin and Mike. The territory had caught fire when the Von Erich's feuded with the Fabulous Freebirds (Buddy Roberts, Terry Gordy and Michael Hayes) in 1983. Business was down some when the Midnight's entered but business was still good.

The stay in Dallas was pretty uneventful. The Midnight's were mainly featured against The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers). As World Class slowly slipped into oblivion, Cornette and the Midnight's accepted an offer to go national.

The summer of 1985 saw the Midnight's begin working for Jim Crockett’s promotion, based in the Carolinas, which was featured on the superstation TBS. The Midnight's first worked a program against Jimmy Valiant and Billy Graham before popping huge crowds in a revival of their feud against the Rock 'n Roll Express.

The years with Crockett saw Eaton get greater recognition as a solid performer and also as someone who made the performance of others better. During the time with the NWA, Eaton and Condrey paired off against The Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes, Baby Doll, Magnum T.A., Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff, The New Breed (Chris Champion and Sean Royal) and others. The Midnight's also played daredevil some by appearing in scaffold matches from time to time, most notably at Starrcade '86.

Possible trouble was looming in 1987. Dennis Condrey abruptly left the team without notice. Why he left is still speculative… some say he was tired of the travel. Others say he was miffed that the trio had passed up a chance to work for the WWF. Other reasons have also been given but whatever the reason, Eaton was without a partner. Fortunately, it wasn't a problem for long.

Cornette reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out former Fabulous Ones tag member Stan Lane to team with Eaton. There’s a lot of debate over which Midnight's team was the best, Condrey and Eaton or Eaton and Lane, and it's a debate that will remain unanswered here. Some say Condrey was probably better on the mat than Lane but Lane was more charismatic than Condrey. Some say Condrey and Eaton had known each other longer and their style together complimented the other but Lane brought freshness to the combination. Whichever way one leans on this subject, one thing about the in-ring product remained constant regarding the Midnight Express… Bobby Eaton was still around, and with Lane's help they held the NWA U.S. Tag Team titles three different times.