Windham and Rotunda
Rotunda and Windham (real life brothers-in-law as Rotunda was married to Windham's sister Stephanie) had teamed off and on in the Florida territories before both were signed by the WWF in 1984. Once they joined the WWF they were given a patriotic gimmick along with the Bruce Springsteen classic "Born in the U.S.A." as their entrance music.
The U.S. Express made their WWF wrestling debut on October 30, 1984 when they defeated the “Enhancement Talent” team of Mohammad Saad & Bobby Bass. On January 21, 1985 the U.S. Express beat the team known as the “North South Connection (Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch) for the WWF World tag-team titles. They would hold the titles for only two months before losing them to the team of Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik at WrestleMania I at the world famous Madison Square Garden in New York.
The U.S. Express became two-time Tag Team Champions when they regained the titles from Volkoff and the Sheik on June 17, 1985 in Poughkeepsie, New York on an episode of WWF Championship Wrestling. Their second reign would also last about two months before they lost the belts to The Dream Team (Gregg "The Hammer" Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. The team broke up near the end of 1985 when Barry Windham left the WWF to return to Florida. The team had their last match together under the WWF banner exactly one year to the day after they made their debut.
The last real appearance of the U.S. Express was not in the WWF but at the AWA's WrestleRock 86 in August 1986. The team was not billed as the U.S. Express since the name was owned by the WWF. The brothers-in-law reunited to defeat the Fabulous Ones (Stan Lane and Steve Keirn) while Rotunda was on a brief break from the WWF between January and May 1986.
Initially, Rick Derringer, who was working with the WWF at the time, wrote the track "Real American" for the team. When Windham left the WWF and the team split, the music was passed on to Hulk Hogan.
Read more about this topic: U.S. Express