Line #30 Wrestling/TheMidnightExpress


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5	'''The Midnight Express''' was a ProfessionalWrestling TagTeam from the 1980s. It started in Alabama when "Loverboy" Dennis Condrey started teaming with "Ravishing" Randy Rose. After feuding with Norvel Austin and various partners, Austin [[FaceHeelTurn turned heel]] and joined with Condrey and Rose. They spent some time in Memphis before returning to SECW. The team split in 1983.
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7	Condrey and "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton formed the second version after Eaton was traded from Memphis to Mid-South. It was here where they started their epic feud with Wrestling/TheRockNRollExpress. The [=MX=] had a brief run in World Class before jumping to the Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance in Charlotte in 1985. They feuded with the [=RNRs=] and Wrestling/TheRoadWarriors until Condrey surprised a lot of people in 1987 by leaving without really giving notice. This led to "Sweet" Stan Lane, formerly of Wrestling/TheFabulousOnes, replacing Condrey after Jim Crockett brought him in after closing down Florida.
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9	Meanwhile, Condrey and Rose had reformed their team in [[Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation the AWA]] with manager [[Wrestling/PaulHeyman Paul E. Dangerously]]. They surprised everyone by jumping to the NWA to feud with Eaton and Lane and manager Wrestling/JimCornette. Cornette's team ultimately won the feud, sending Condrey and Rose away. The MX left after 1990, with Lane eventually going with Cornette to set up Wrestling/{{SMW}}.
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11	Even into the 2000s, Condrey/Rose/Eaton/Lane could still be found together in various combinations to compete at legends shows and on the indy circuit. The Express' final match involved Condrey and Eaton at an August 2011 legends show run by [[Wrestling/JuggaloChampionshipWrestling JCW]]. The first primary member to pass away was Eaton in 2021.
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13	Among their in-ring achievements: They were 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/nwa/ma-nwa-t.html NWA (Mid-Atlantic) World Tag Team Champions]] (1x Condrey/Eaton, 1x Eaton/Lane), 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/awa/awa-t.html AWA World Tag Team Champions]] (Condrey/Rose) and 3x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-us-t.html NWA (Mid-Atlantic) United States Tag Team Champions]] (Eaton/Lane).
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15	Not to be confused with ''Film/MidnightExpress''
16	----
17	!!"These tropes stay up past midnight":
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19	* AmbiguouslyGay:
20	** Suspected of Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane, if not for each other than for the {{sissy\| villain}} Cornette, whom fans didn't even think was "ambiguous" during the 80s.
21	** Cornette and Eaton played this up for homophobic crowds by hugging and kissing on the cheek before matches.
22	* ArchEnemy: The Rock N Roll Express, the Road Warriors, the Fantastics
23	** The Midnights vs. Midnights feud was the InUniverse beginning of the Cornette-Heyman feud.
24	** According to Cornette, Jim Herd ''hated'' the Express in RealLife. Herd was a significant factor in the team breaking up in 1990 when Lane and Cornette left the company.
25	* BashBrothers: Except for the managers, and even then Cornette had been forced to wrestle sometimes
26	* BeardOfEvil: Condrey
27	* CowerPower: Cornette would often ask Bobby Eaten to give him hugs when he got scared.
28	* {{Determinator}}: No matter how many times they were beaten and humiliated, the Midnight Express and Jim Cornette would not stop returning to hassle Mid-South's baby faces. This actually got fans coming back too, hoping ''this'' would be the time the no good Midnights were driven away for good. Sometimes they would be sent away for awhile (if only so new teams could shuffle around) but after a few months or a year, they'd be back again.
29	* EnemyMine: While normally they and the Road Warriors were intense enemies, they joined forces with Wrestling/DrDeathSteveWilliams to defeat the Fabulous Freebirds (Terry Gordy, Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin) and [[Wrestling/TheHeadshrinkers Samoan Swat Team]] (Samu and [[Wrestling/{{Rikishi}} Fatu [Rikishi]]]) in [[GimmickMatches War Games]] at ''NWA The Great American Bash 89.''
30	* EvilVersusEvil: The feud between Cornette’s Mignight Express and Paul E’s Original Midnight began while both teams were Heels.
31	* FinishingMove: Double Goozle, [[FastballSpecial Rocket Launcher]], Veg-A-Matic, Flapjack, Gravedigger
32	* FleetingDemographicRule: Subverted, Cornett claims that in the Mid-Atlantic region he still gets greeted with excited cries of “Midnight Express!” In fact, Cornette stated that Wrestling/VinceMcMahon expressed surprise that, despite appearing regularly on WWF tv at the time, Cornette would still be greeted with shouts of “Midnight Express” in airports ten years after their heyday. Cornette has suggested that the New Midnight Express was at least partially inspired by Vince’s bemusement at their continued popularity.
33	* GreaterScopeVillain: Mama Cornette, Jim's wealthy mother who’s as supposedly bankrolling the team and using her money to shield them from legal consequences.
34	* HammyHerald: Cornette. As one example, from ''NWA [=WrestleWar=] 90'':
35	-->'''JIM CORNETTE''': "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Kings of the Ring, the Gangster of Love and the Sultan of Swing, Beautiful Bobby and Sweet Stan, the Midnight Express!"
36	** Paul E. filled the same role for Condrey and Rose in the AWA.
37	* AHandfulForAnEye: They threw powder into the LOD's eyes during their scaffold match at ''Starrcade 86.'' It didn't help, as the LOD still won the match.
38	* ImprobableWeaponUser: Dennis Condrey would wrap Cornette’s belt around his fist. Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton once loaded Cornette's tennis racket carrying case with a brick to make its strikes more powerful.
39	* InNameOnly: The New Midnight Express, "Bombastic" Bob Holly and "Bodacious" Bart Gunn, who had a brief run in the WWF in '98. Neither Gunn nor Holly had ever been part of a previous iteration, or ever worked in any of the territories the real Midnight Express had. The only similarity they had with the Midnight Express was being managed by Cornette, and Cornette despised the whole angle.
40	* PartsUnknown: "TheDarkSide"
41	* PowerStable: At one time, they were known as Midnight Express Inc., and included [[Wrestling/HonkyTonkMan Wayne Farris (The Honky Tonk Man)]], Ron Starr, the Midnight Stallion (Archie "The Mongolian Stomper" Gouldie) and Rick Harris (Black Bart), along with Condrey, Rose and Austin.
42	** Condrey and Rose were in the Dangerous Alliance in the AWA.
43	* RedBaron: Eaton was "The Sultan of Swing," Lane was "The Gangster of Love."
44	* RiddleForTheAges: The reason Condrey left the team in 1987 has never been revealed. Even Cornette and Eaton didn't know for years after. All Cornette will publicly say is that it had nothing to do with the wrestling business.
45	* RingOldies: From the 2000s onward. They are the oldest International Wrestling Cartel Tag Team Champions in the promotion's history.
46	* TrainingMontage: {{Subverted\| trope}} in the lead up to their Starrcade scaffold match against Wrestling/TheRoadWarriors. The Midnight Express were too scared to do anything with the scaffold, only hired muscle [[Wrestling/BigBossMan Big Bubba Rodgers]] was able to even walk across it.
47	* WrestlingFamily:
48	** Bobby Eaton's son Dylan. He was also wrestler/promoter Bill Dundee's son-in-law.

Context Wrestling / TheMidnightExpress