Famer Friday: The Midnight Express & Jim Cornette

Cornette, Lane, Condrey and Eaton

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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One of my favorite tag teams of all time is the Midnight Express.  I'm talking about the "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton, "Sweet" Stan Lane and Jim Cornette version.  Not "Bombastic" Bob and "Bodacious" Bart from the late 90's.  While the Eaton/Lane version of the Express is my favorite, I do appreciate and respect the work that "Loverboy" Dennis Condrey added to the team.  I don't go back far enough in my fandom to remember the original Express of Condrey, Randy Rose and Norvell Austin.

The early years

I want to say my first memories of Eaton, Condrey and Cornette are when they came to World Class Championship Wrestling.  The trio engaged in a very memorable feud with The Fantastics.  Their time in Texas was brief, but by watching them I learned quickly these two knew what they were doing in the ring.  Those matches helped establish my love for tag team wrestling.  The three headed to the NWA and had a classic scaffold match against The Road Warriors.  Eaton told me in a podcast interview I did with him that he didn't enjoy it because his team ended up tumbling to the ring below.  

The Express gets sweeter

Eventually Condrey would leave the group and Lane would replace him.  Many times that spells doom (not Ron Simmons and Butch Reed) for a tag team, but I enjoyed this incarnation even more.  Lane brought youth component to the team and in my opinion was more physically gifted than Condrey.  This new duo quickly started collecting championships winning the U.S. tag team titles three times and the NWA world tag team titles once.  

Their feuds with the Rock 'n Roll Express, The Road Warriors and Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson are what defined an era of tag team wrestling.  Lane and Eaton's chemistry as well as their abilities in the ring and Cornette's skills on the mic made them nearly flawless.  

Heel turn

Another one of my favorite memories was during their brief face run and "partnership" they had with the Dynamic Dudes (Shane Douglas and Johnny Ace aka Laurinaitis).  It was at a Clash of the Champions that Corny screwed over the young duo and helped his main charges win their match.  And who can forget when a young Paul Heymen reunited Rose and Condrey to feud with Lane and Eaton over the Midnight Express name?  

The Midnight Express simply never had a bad match as far as I'm concerned.   Their work still holds up more than 30 years later.  Watching their matches reminds me of an era in wrestling that's long forgotten when it comes to putting on compelling tag team matches. So I say Cornette, Eaton, Lane and Condrey all deserve to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Rest in Peace Tommy Rogers

RIP

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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Follow my blog with Bloglovin 

I'm sad to hear of the passing of one of the most talented tag team wrestlers from my childhood, Tommy Rogers.  He and Bobby Fulton competed for years as The Fantastics.  The name suited the team to a tee, as they were impressive in the ring.  I don't know all the circumstances surrounding Tommy's death, but Dave Meltzer has more details here.

My memories of The Fantastics start in the mid-80's in World Class Championship Wrestling.  Rogers and Fulton had some of the best matches on the card against The Midnight Express (then Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey) That feud lasted the entire time both teams were with WCCW.  I believe the teams swapped the tag team titles while they were there.  

They also had a great run in Bill Watts' UWF, engaging in some bloody and violent battles with The Sheepherders (now known as the Bushwhackers)  The brutal heels took the babyface Fantastics to the limit, but Rogers and Fulton never failed to impress.  I know I'll probably get heat from some for this, but I always enjoyed the Fantastics ahead of other similar duos like The Fabulous Ones and The Rock 'n Roll Express.  I'm not taking anything away from anyone with that statement.

The two returned to WCCW and feuded with the Rock 'n Roll RPMs, which culminated in a scaffold match.  I know they had more matches against the Midnight Express (this time with Stan Lane in the duo) when they headed to World Championship Wrestling.  And I vaguely remember Rogers and Fulton actually being opponents in a WWF match in the late 90's.  

Fulton & Rogers

The two remained a team in the years that followed around the world and in the indies.  Chad and I got to see Rogers and Fulton, along with others at the Mid-South Legends reunion show in New Orleans during Wrestlemania XXX weekend. It was great seeing all the men and women from that nearly forgotten time in wrestling history.  He was also on an episode of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's podcast not too long ago.  I know that Tommy has had some personal problems, I just hope he is now at peace.  God speed.