express

RNR Express in 1988

3rd March 2015 by Scott Keith


Watching Clash of the champions Miami Mayhem and they have a segment welcoming back the rock n roll express. Yet I don't remember them doing anything of note in the nwa that year. So, is there a story behind this?

If it's the time period I'm thinking of, they jumped to the AWA for a little while and bounced around between there and Memphis.  The appeal was really dead in the water by late 88 because it was really a short shelf life on the teen idol thing.  They didn't really pop up again until 1990 and by that time the act was pretty much done thanks to Gibson's pretty gnarly knee injury and the Steiner Brothers becoming the team everyone wanted. 
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July Classics: The Fantastics vs. The Midnight Express – Bash ’88

7th July 2014 by Scott Keith

At Clash I, The Fantastics had thought they won the United States Tag Team Championship, but the decision was reversed. They got a rematch on the 5/14/88 edition of World Wide and won the titles, and this is The Express’ title rematch. Jim Cornette is strapped into a straitjacket and locked in a cage that is above the ring in order to prevent interference.

http://network.wwe.com/video/v31355167/milestone/31370367

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Promo of the Day: Midnight Express vs Frank and Jesse James

14th June 2014 by Scott Keith

Came across this on You Tube.  Dennis Condrey asking Jim Cornette " Do you know who this is" while in an arm bar was great. Whatever became of the mysterious James brothers?

They changed their name to the Armstrong Brothers?  We will literally never have a way to find out who were under the masks anyway, so it's kind of a moot point.  I mean, the detective work needed to penetrate those disguises would bankrupt Scotland Yard.  

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Midnight Express heat?

23rd May 2014 by Scott Keith
In the Freebird question you said teams like the Midnights were jobbed out for political reasons.   What reasons?   Bobby must've been liked pretty well as he got a short baby face run, a TV Title run and then put in the Dangerous Alliance.  Was there heat on Stan Lane?  Or was this one of those "Because WCW" where they just outshines everyone and were thus knocked down a peg?
​It wasn't specifically the Express​ as such, it was more Jim Cornette rubbing a series of bosses the wrong way (Ole Anderson in particular) and the Express making a lot of money and thus becoming the target of the constant cost-cutting measures.  Cornette goes into tons of details in every shoot interview that he does.  
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Great Match of the Day: The Midnight Express v. The Road Warriors

8th February 2013 by Scott Keith

You want to see a sympathetic babyface get the SHIT beaten out of him?  Witness the Midnight Express turning babyface in defeat, losing the tag titles to the Road Warriors in one of the most epic beatings you will ever witness outside of Brock Lesnar.  The Road Warriors were so awesome in this role that they turned themselves face again shortly afterwards.  Mad props to Stan Lane here for selling his ass off. 

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Great Match of the Day: Tully & Arn v. RNR Express

6th February 2013 by Scott Keith

One day Tony Schiavone on commentary was like “Oh, the Horsemen have a new team, it’s Tully and Arn” after Tully had lost the TV title to Nikita Koloff.  This didn’t seem like a big deal at the time because the Horsemen cycled through random teams constantly in their quest to destroy Dusty Rhodes and they always failed, which made it all the more surprising to me when this combination won the tag titles a few weeks later, and then went on to become one of my all-time favorite teams.  This is more of a great ANGLE than a great match, but I still love it.

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Lex Express!

26th August 2012 by Scott Keith

Scott,
Lex Luger's "choker" label got chiseled into stone in his WWF mega-push (specifically SummerSlam 1993).  As much as I think the Narcissist persona offered Luger way more mileage and appeal, I can't blame Vince for trying to recapture the Hogan lightning.  Do you think The Lex Express would have been a success had Luger gone over Yokozuna strong at SummerSlam for the title?  Obviously Luger title defenses against "Evil Foreigners" (Ludvig Borga, Crush, etc) would not have excited some of us, but it would have at least given him that Hogan-esque momentum (if not similar results) and a chance at a legitimate chance at being the top draw.  Even if Luger's run was bombing (and it may very well have), you can always have Yoko come back and do the Hogan-KOTR treatment on him (or build to a face vs. face match with Bret to move the title).  So I really don't see the DQ finish at SummerSlam helping Yoko or Lex.  Do you think Luger gets over as a draw if he goes over Yoko strong and carries the title to Wrestlemania (and beyond?).

Ha!  I knew I had more Luger e-mails in my pile of old stuff.  
I think Luger was going to bomb as champion and they knew it.  Even if he had gone over clean, fan backlash would have forced them to go with Bret by Wrestlemania anyway.  That being said, I think they should have TRIED at least, because you never know, and certainly Luger had the marketing push behind him to succeed.  Plus as noted, you could line up your evil foreigners and get at least 6 months out of him as champion.  Maybe even have Duggan do the Slaughter turn (not that he ever would, but it would give Luger a hell of a rub as the ultimate defender of America) and feed him to Luger as well?  
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Lex Express

28th August 2011 by Scott Keith

A curiosity regarding Wrestlemania 10.  If the plan in mid-1993 was for Lex Luger to win the WWF Title from Yokozuna at Wrestlemania, why the double-winner booking at the Royal Rumble and double title defense at WMX?  We hear the urban legend about Luger blabbing about the title win and having the booking changed as a result, but what was the original intent with the dual main events?  Just an experiment?  Or was the Luger title win really never set in stone leading up to the show?

It was never set in stone.  They wanted Luger to chase the title for longer, but then they were waffling as usual and went with Bret instead.  As for the co-mains, here’s Meltzer after Royal Rumble 94:

In hindsight, the idea of the tie in the Rumble leading to the two title matches on the same show is a good one. This show’s biggest draw is not any matches, but the name "Wrestlemania," as evidenced by the show selling out in just a few days, before any matches had even been announced. However, neither Yokozuna vs. Luger or Yokozuna vs. Hart on their own is a box office bonanza as a main event. Luger’s popularity has cooled considerably since SummerSlam, and even that show, one of the most well promoted cards in history and with Luger riding a wave of publicity that should have but didn’t make him the No. 1 name in the business, did a disappointing buy rate. While not as focused as a singular title main event, there is no title main event that is ready to knock them dead at the box office so selling intrigue may hide the fact that neither match on their own is a killer at the box office.

So basically they didn’t have faith in Luger headlining alone.

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