Where Wrestling's Regional History Lives!
 |
|
|
Where Wrestling's Regional History Lives! |
|
|||||
|
- Tim Dills
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. More...
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.
