the midnight express

[bobbyryates]

let me start this forum with this tidbit. 1987 brought to us stan lane replacing dennis condrey in the MX.
lane was a great replacement. any thoughts?

[mw2fan]

Stan added a lot to the MX. Physically superior to Dennis, great talker (especially his intros of Jimmy C.), and better chemistry.IMO. I liked this versions matches with R-n-R better.

[GarvinStomp]

I agree that Sweet Stan was much better for the Midnight Express than was Dennis Condrey. It was the team of Eaton and Lane that defeated Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard for the NWA world tag team titles in 1988 and simultaneously held the US and World tag team titles. Eaton and Lane rocked.

[ssteward]

Both were great. Condrey version drew more and were pushed more. But the Lane version was the better one to me.

[Baltimore Jack]

Dennis Condrey was a much better wrestler, much more of an old-school background, and I think he and Bobby worked better together at getting serious heel heat. But Stan had that "cool" factor and helped the MX become a cool heel team, developed a bit of a female following, too.

[Flair81]

I was such a Flair fan in 87 that I didin't pay much attention to the tag division. Stan was better than
Dennis, I always thought. It is really good that they
have worked so many Indy shows lately with the
R&R Express. I bet they still put on a good show.
I do remember seeing Bobby and Stan in a spot
show in Bluefield WV in June 1988. Must have been
a week day show with an average crowd. Anyway
I don't remember the opponents, but they horsed
around a lot.
The spot show of 1988 is big time now.

[lobo]

Big fan of both Dennis Condrey and Stan Lane - but the Eaton/ Lane version of MX will always be remembered the most

Great to see Eaton & Condrey back together teaming on the Indie scene

Always been a huge mark for Bobby Eaton and always will be

[lugered]

Dennis was real strong and Bobby was the technician. They still work well together after all these years.

[JNance]

A truly spectacular tag team, the chemistry betwen Eaton and Condrey was great, but adding Stan Lane, was genius on the part of Jim Conette. The teamwork was awesome, and they had great matches with the Rock n' Rolls, Fantastics, and Tully & Arn. Wish they had the chance to compete with some of the other later teams. But, they were an awesome team. (I was told that Lane was the only wrestler personally trained by Ric Flair - anybody know?)

[The Bright Light]

There is no comparison in my opinion. The matches that Eaton and Lane had could not compare to the matches that Eaton and Condrey had. To be fair, Eaton and Condrey wrestled all over in a time when a heel tag team could headline shows.

By the time that Lane came along, the business was changing and territories were being phased out. There is no way that a heel team could be as big a draw in 1987-1990 as it could in 1984-1986.

My favorite Condrey quote from this era was after Cornette threw the fireball at Ronnie Garvin: "It's not our fault Tony Shavonna that he got hit by a cosmic fireball!"

[VR]

Bottom line it's all in taste.

Bottom line, Condrey, Eaton, and Cornette were a better HEAT MACHINE, and had GREAT CHEMISTRY. See Mid-South 1984, World-Class 1985, and JCP 1985 & 1986. Check the gates in Mid-South. Of course the gates in JCP in 1985 & 1986 were better then they were during the run with Lane.

Now to argue in favor of Lane. Better look for sure, better matches debatable, but may lean towards Lane due to the Fantastics, Horsemen, Original MX, and Southern Boys. Better Heat and drawing card, NO.

2 out of 3 for Condrey, Eaton, and Corny.

1 out of 3 for Lane, Eaton, and Corny.

BOTH are great teams.

VR

[acezappa]

I saw Eaton and Condrey a lot more than I did Eaton and Lane, so I gotta go with that combo, personally. Stan Lane was cool though.

[stingmark]

I became the biggest MX "mark" when i first saw condrey/eaton/cornette in mid south. I like lane, but Im also quite fond of the condrey/eaton team. I think BOTH teams have accomplished a great deal. Too hard to pick "who's better" overall. With condrey, they won more titles, with lane, they created more finishers and became the first team to hold the NWA WORLD and US tag straps. Again, too tough to call. and I'm probably the biggest "MX mark" there is.

[WorldWideWilliam]

I gotta go with the Eaton/Condrey/Cornette version. Aside from the fact that Bobby was so good that you could have stuck him in there teaming with a mannequin and he would make it great, there's also the fact that Bobby/Dennis/Corny are pretty much responsible for the phenomenon known as...MULKEYMANIA!!!

[mikefever05]

Bobby Eaton...a fantastic worker and nice guy!