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Professional wrestling has produced countless legendary tag teams. The Road Warriors changed what power and intimidation looked like. The Hart Foundation perfected technical excellence. The Dudley Boyz, The Hardys and Edge & Christian helped redefine tag team wrestling for a new generation. Yet when AEW paid tribute to The Midnight Express on Collision this past Saturday, it served as yet another another reminder that no team has ever better embodied the art of tag team wrestling than Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey.
The tribute worked because it wasn't simply nostalgia. It was recognition of a team whose influence can still be seen in virtually every serious tag division today. It worked because it was a reminder that craftsmanship will over win out over fads in the end. That the ability to make fans believe and hate will always stand out over the flashiest of moves, especially for a team like The Midnights who could pull out the flashiest of sequences for their era.
That's because what made The Midnight Express special wasn't flashy spectacle or larger-than-life gimmicks. It was execution. Every movement in a Midnight Express match had a purpose. Their timing was flawless. Their double-team maneuvers looked devastating without appearing choreographed. They understood ring positioning better than almost anyone who has ever stepped between the ropes. They were brash, arrogant villains who's arrogance sprouted from their self-awareness that they were great. No matter how much you may have hated them, as a fan, you could never deny their were, indeed great. They may have been assholes, but they weren't liars. The ring was their gospel, and what they did was spread the truth - no one could touch them as a tag team act.
In an era when tag team wrestling was as often the main attraction instead of just a supporting act, The Midnight Express consistently delivered performances that made fans believe tag wrestling could be every bit as compelling as a world title match. Every blind tag, every piece of shady offense designed to ratchet up the heat against the babyfaces, every moment an opponent was cut off from tagging out, every bump taken when the inevitable hot tag came, these were all pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that when put together moment by moment in succession, one after the other, took fans on an adventure as fulfilling as the best theme park ride could ever be.
A huge part of that success was the late Beautiful Bobby Eaton. Often cited by fellow wrestlers as one of the most underrated performers in wrestling history, Eaton combined athleticism, psychology, and selflessness in a way few others could - and did so without much of an innate ability to cut promos, leaving that to the other members of his team. Eaton's ability to make opponents look like stars while still maintaining his own credibility was extraordinary. Dennis Condrey, who we sadly lost earlier this year, brought legitimacy and the ability to always be in the right place at the right time, matched only by his ability to make every single thing he did, whether it was on the offensive or taking bumps, look great, often saving even the greatest miscues to make them appear as if everything was as realistic as whatever had actually been planned to begin with. Later, when Dennis stepped out, Stan Lane breathed new life into the Express' later chapters with charisma, confidence, "educated feet" and smooth in-ring work that perfectly synced with Eaton as if he had been there all along.
While Bobby Eaton was the heart and soul of the Express, just as Arn Anderson was the heart of The Four Horsemen, no discussion of The Midnight Express is complete without Jim Cornette. As manager, Cornette was the ideal heat magnet, drawing the crowd's hatred for being the antagonistic, wimpy mama's boy while allowing The Express to showcase their talents. He magnified everything they did by being the magnet that pulled the attention of the audience towards the team. All together, these individuals created the complete package that audiences desperately wanted to see, depending on the time period, either humbled or victorious.
Their legendary rivalries further strengthen their case as the greatest tag team ever. Their series against The Rock 'n' Roll Express remains the gold standard for tag team feuds. Those matches weren't built on endless high spots or gimmicks. They were built on storytelling, crowd investment, and emotional payoff. Fans didn't just watch those matches, they lived and died with every near fall. While the feud with The Fantastics isn't as celebrated, it was just as vibrant and perhaps even more violent, one of the true shining examples of what made Jim Crockett Promotions viable to the fans even as it limped towards being purchased by Ted Turner in 1988. When they were flipped babyfaces, fans believed in the feud with the Original Midnights and later the truncated feud against Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. This team was the heart and soul of what made the NWA stand out as much as the far more celebrated Four Horsemen were.
What separates The Midnight Express from other all-time great teams is consistency. Across multiple promotions, multiple opponents, and multiple years, they almost never had a bad match. Even their squash matches were entertaining, even when those opponents weren't nowhere near their level. Wrestlers today still study the Express' work to learn how to structure tag matches, build momentum, cut off the ring, and maximize crowd reactions. You can see the echoes of the Express' synchronized maneuvers and heel antics in the best teams today, because you learn from the best and adapt it into your own style.
Yet, no one has ever come close to matching that magic. There have been other teams who have been successful with other styles, but the old school tag team that was so good in the ring and just as amazing at being heels to draw money and make people want to pay to see them get killed? Nah, doesn't exist today. The closest equivalent would have been The Dudley Boyz, but they were a different, rougher style vs. the sleek tag team expressiveness that Condrey, Eaton (and later, Lane) brought to the squared circle. The Hollywood Blondes in WCW could have been that team, but they were split up before the Brush with Greatness could grow into anything grander. WWE never really let heel teams conquer the world or be main event players beyond the TLC era. In my mind, while there were others who were good, true tag team greatness, at that level and tenure, ended in 1990 when the final version of the Express went their separate ways.
That's why AEW's tribute was so important and in my mind, resonated so strongly. It wasn't merely honoring a successful team from wrestling's past. It was honoring a foundational piece of wrestling history. Modern tag team wrestling, from FTR to The Young Bucks to countless teams around the world, owe a debt to the standards The Midnight Express established decades ago, and it's especially important to celebrate the Express, because we don't have anyone even remotely similar today, and probably never ever will. The environment of pro wrestling today will likely never see talents ever put together in that manner ever again.
The Midnight Express isn't truly celebrated by the masses today and likely never will be, partially because they never had a big WWE run and haven't been put on a pedestal the way WWE history does with The Four Horsemen, but the true fans know. They may not be in the WWE Hall of Fame, but The Rock N' Roll Express wouldn't be if it hadn't been for that feud with Dennis, Bobby and Cornette. The Midnight Express may not have had a Wrestlemania moment, but they were the DNA that empowered the blueprint for all that is great in tag team wrestling - and if any booker out there ever truly wanted tag teams to be their milestone main event acts, they need to look no further than what The Midnight Express achieved over the course of their run, for what they'd want to emulate if they wanted to do that sort of division justice.
The greatest tag teams don't just win championships that are booked for them to win. They influence the generations that follow. The Midnight Express did exactly that and still do.
AEW's tribute was a celebration of brilliance, resilience and excellence, and it reminded wrestling fans of a simple truth: there may be many contenders for the greatest tandem of all time, but when it comes to craftsmanship, storytelling, and lasting influence, The Midnight Express will stand at the apex of the tag team mountain, forever.
In my opinion, anyway - and on this opinion, I know I'm 100% right.
Midnight Express forever.
Mike Johnson can be reached at MikeJohnsonPWInsider@gmail.com.
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