The Midnight Express (professional Wrestling) - History - Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane

Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane

After Condrey's departure, Eaton was left without a partner. As a possible replacement, "Sweet Stan" Lane, who had worked against Eaton and knew him well, was suggested. J.J. Dillon approached Stan Lane in Florida telling him that Dusty Rhodes wanted to talk to him. At the time, business was going badly in Florida and Lane's longtime partner Steve Keirn had already quit wrestling. Lane took the opportunity and made the jump to Jim Crockett Promotions after meeting with Rhodes and Eaton in Charlotte. Eaton and Lane's familiarity with each other showed as the new version of the Midnight Express gelled from the beginning. According to Tim Horner, he was also considered to replace Condrey, but Stan Lane just happened to call the office at the right time.

In May 1987 the combination of Eaton and Lane quickly became champions as they won the NWA United States Tag team titles for the first time, a title they would win three times during their time together. A year later the team was cheered on despite being heels as the Midnight Express won the NWA World Tag Team Titles from the Horsemen Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard on September 10, 1988. The Midnight Express' run with the titles only last a little over a month-and-a-half before the Road Warriors (who had recently turned heel on Sting) took the gold from them in a brutal match up that saw the Express further their turn to face.

Lane, Eaton and Cornette completed their turn to babyface when they entered into a feud with a team newly arrived from the AWA. "The Original Midnight Express" was a reunion of Midnight Express founding members Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose, who had been teaming up before Condrey and Eaton became a team. The duo was led by longtime Jim Cornette nemesis Paul E. Dangerously in a storyline that saw the originators trying to prove they were better than the new version. The surprise appearance of the Original Midnight Express gave Dangerously’s team the initial momentum in the feud, but soon after Dennis Condrey left the promotion once more before a "loser leaves town" match that would see the wrestler that took the losing fall getting fired. This forced the bookers to bring in Jack Victory as a replacement as Condrey’s disappearance cut the promising feud short. Cornette contends in a "shoot" interview that backstage politics and animosity between the Original Midnights, promotion head Jim Crockett, and head booker George Scott is what led to the feud being cooled off and Condrey once again leaving the promotion. Rose ended up taking the pin in the resultant match and was fired from the promotion afterwards.

Due to various differences over the direction of the Midnight Express, Cornette, Lane and Eaton left JCP for a short while, around the time that Ted Turner bought out Jim Crockett and began promoting the federation under the name World Championship Wrestling (WCW). When the issues were resolved Cornette and the Midnight Express returned to the federation and a very strong tag team division. When they returned they took part in the tournament to determine the vacated world tag team titles where they advanced to the finals before losing to the Freebirds with some assistance from the Samoan Swat Team. They would engage in a feud with the Freebirds and Samoans until the 1989 Great American Bash where they teamed up with the Road Warriors and Dr. Death Steve Williams to defeat the Freebirds and Samoans in a War Games match. They would soon turn heel as a result of a feud with the Dynamic Dudes who they duped into thinking that Jim Cornette wanted to be the Dudes manager when in reality he was all along on the side of the Midnight Express during a match between the teams at Clash of the Champions IX show in New York. The Dynamic Dudes would gain a measure of revenge when the Midnight Express laid out an open challenge for any team for $10,000 and after dispatching of a couple of no name teams. The next team was announced from Gotham City and were the Dynamic Duo who of course were the Dynamic Dudes under masks who eventually pinned the Express and won the money. The feud would soon lose steam and was forgotten soon after.

After returning to their cheating ways, the Midnight Express started a storyline with the up and coming team of Flyin’ Brian and "Z-Man" Tom Zenk over the United States Tag team titles. The Express won the titles from the young team in early 1990, but lost them to The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) three months later. After a loss at the WCW pay-per-view Halloween Havoc 1990 the Midnight Express split up when Jim Cornette and Stan Lane left the federation. For the first time in almost a decade there was no Midnight Express, it was the end of an era in tag team wrestling.