Riding The Midnight Express: The Very Greatest of “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton
Unfortunately, it was announced last night (August 4th 2021) that legendary NWA and WCW star Bobby Eaton had passed away aged 62, as announced by his sister. This was just a month after his wife (and Bill Dundee’s daughter) Donna had passed away.
“Beautiful” Bobby’s most memorable run was his run in the Jim Cornette-managed team The Midnight Express with “Loverboy” Dennis Condrey and later “Sweet” Stan Lane. Elsewhere, he was a tag team expert now regarded as one of, if not THE, greatest tag wrestler of all time having being in teams with Arn Anderson, Steve Keirn, Koko B Ware, “Lord” Steven Regal, Tom Prichard, Lanny Poffo and many others.
We will now go over some of the best moments of the career of Bobby Eaton.
Feuding with The Rock ‘N’ Roll Express
A permanent member of The Midnight Express, Eaton feuded most significantly with The Rock ‘N’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson).
A rivalry starting out in Mid-South, it was little known then that this feud would continue on over many decades. When Condrey and Eaton arrived in Jim Crockett Promotions, they soon snatched the NWA World Tag Team titles off of the RNR Express. The Morton/Gibson duo regained the belts 6 months later.
Whether it was Condrey or Lane, Eaton’s battles with the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express are amongst the most historic and regarded tag feuds of all time. All top workers, their many battles include matches at Starrcade 1987 and WrestleWar 1990. In total, Eaton has wrestled Morton 470 times and Gibson 448 times in tag or solo action.
Fittingly enough, Eaton’s last ever match in 2015 was against his rival of 30 years Ricky Morton.
Going Solo
After years having feuds with The Rock ‘N’ Roll Express, The Road Warriors, The Fantastics, The Fabulous Freebirds and The Steiners – The Midnight Express broke up when Stan Lane and Jim Cornette left WCW in 1991. This made Eaton a solo wrestler again for the first time since 1979.
In this, Eaton would win his first singles belt on a national scale, managing to beat old tag foe and future partner Arn Anderson for the WCW Television championship. At Clash Of The Champions XV, the then-TV champion had the biggest singles match of his career, challenging Ric Flair in a 2-out-of-3-falls Match for the WCW World title. Eaton would soon after lose the belt to the freshly-debuted Steve Austin.
The Dangerous Alliance
Eaton joined up with Paul E Dangerously’s Dangerous Alliance in late 1991, to further the immense talent in the group which already featured Larry Zbyszko, Arn Anderson, Steve Austin and Rick Rude.
Eaton and Anderson would quickly capture the WCW World Tag Team titles by beating the odd team of Dustin Rhodes and Ricky Steamboat. This stable dominated the company in a short period winning all belts except the WCW World title as Rude held the US belt and Austin had the TV title. This vicious group of heels found their match, feuding with a faction of top stars consisting of Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham and Nikita Koloff.
After weeks of assaults by the heel flock, the feud blow-off took place inside WarGames. At Fall Brawl ‘92, Sting’s Squadron prevailed in a Dave Meltzer 5-star rated clash considered as the greatest match of the stipulation. Eaton was involved in the decision, being submitted by Sting after a miscue with “The Living Legend” Zbyszko.
One-Off Runs
In 1994, Bobby Eaton made a few ECW appearances including at ECW’s Worlds Collide supercard in a high-caliber main event.
In this, whilst still under WCW contract having recently jumped from Smoky Mountain Wrestling, he would wrestle heel, teaming up with Sabu to take on the team of fellow WCW-contracted wrestler Arn Anderson and Terry Funk. Booker Dangerously used his previous NWA/WCW connections to get these talents. “Beautiful” Bobby’s team won when Sabu forced Funk into submission.
Eaton also made a single appearance for TNA in late 2003 in a losing effort to Kid Kash. This came as Kash was amidst a run facing old legends of the business.
The Bluebloods
After Eaton’s previous project in WCW, Bad Attitude (with Steve Keirn) broke up, Eaton joined another tag team but this one more memorable.
Alongside “Lord” Steven Regal, Eaton transformed from a southern ‘rassler into a posh gentleman. Actually a replacement for Jean-Paul Levesque (Triple H), Eaton was seen being taught the Queen’s English, table manners and being knighted “Earl”. Eaton and Regal became a fixture of the tag scene challenging – but never winning – Lex Luger and Sting, Harlem Heat and The Nasty Boys for the straps. “Squire” Dave Taylor was later added to the group.
The Blue Bloods often faced teams who were their polar opposites like The Nasty Boys or The Stud Stable. Despite being memorable and a great bit of comic relief, the duo soon fell apart. Regal won the Television title and Eaton turned on Regal, challenging him for the belt twice but both with no avail.
Tributes
Truly one of the greatest and most underappreciated wrestlers of his generation, Eaton is idolized by many and with condolences to the family and friends of Bobby Eaton from all of us here at Wrestlebuddy.com, we would like to leave you with some wrestlers paying tribute:
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