Bobby Eaton won the world tag team titles (NWA/WCW version) three times with three different partners, winning the championship with Dennis Condrey and Stan Lane under the banner of the Midnight Express and with Arn Anderson.
Eaton's team with Stan Lane held the same promotion's United States tag championships on three different occasions and would hold the World Television Championship, defeating Arn Anderson a few months before Eaton would win the tag team titles with Anderson as part of the Dangerous Alliance.
Known as arguably the best "worker" in the business at his peak, Bobby Eaton was known for his aerial work off the top rope (Eaton was known to come off the top rope during the Midnights matches at the WTBS studios and touch the ceiling to "show" how high he could leap) and his realistic punches that looked like he was knocking the opponents head off but in actuality wasn't even touching them.
Eaton wasn't an aerial star as some wrestlers were with dropkicks and bodypresses, but it was his daredevil work off the top rope that helped make his name as a star with the most notable being the "Alabama Jam" with Eaton leaping into the air and landing with a leg drop onto his opponent.
The Midnight Express was noted as the best heel tag team globally, whether it was Eaton and Condrey or Eaton and Lane during their run from 1983-1990 for both their matches and their interview quality, although Jim Cornette did almost all the speaking for the Midnights.
Their standout matches against great teams such as the Rock N Roll Express, Fantastics, Road Warriors, Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson, and countless others have made them the most popular team to the wrestling "smart marks" and only Blanchard and Anderson approaching their ranking as the top of the era historically.
The Midnight Express used their teamwork to shine in their matches and Bobby Eaton was the star of both versions of the team.
That's not to diminish the role played by Dennis Condrey or Stan Lane, but it was their job to set up the spectacular moves by Eaton and allow Eaton to pull off the moves that allowed him to shine.
Which Midnight Express version that you prefer depends on what is more important to you as a wrestling fan- If you prefer a pure old-school heel team then the Condrey and Eaton team could be your favorite with matches that would have a crowd sizzling and seething with hatred.
Should you prefer "workrate" then Eaton and Lane would likely be your preferred team with a catalog of great matches that hold up even to the modern fan.
The double team moves, many of which were created by the wrestlers themselves, were part of what made the Midnights so great, but just as knowing what to do at the right time can make a wrestler great, knowing what not to do at a certain time can be just as important.
Eaton is most remembered for his time with the Midnight Express and Jim Cornette, but his last big run came as part of arguably the greatest collection of talent in a group ever and one that often is forgotten due to the state of WCW at the time in Paul E. Dangerously's Dangerous Alliance.
It would be as part of the Alliance that Eaton would win his final title in WCW when he teamed with Arn Anderson to win the tag team titles for the final time in his career.
The Alliance consisted of Ravishing Rick Rude, who was at his peak before the back injury that essentially ended his in-ring career, a pre-Stone Cold "Stunning" Steve Austin, Larry Zbysko, Anderson, and Eaton and not surprisingly was handled poorly by WCW.
Eaton had a brief time as a hilarious mid-card team "The Blue Bloods" with Steven Regal with funny vignettes with Regal "teaching" Eaton manners and how to behave in social situations.
The Blue Bloods would challenge for the titles many times but fail to win them.
After Eaton was replaced on the team by Dave Taylor, Eaton moved down the cards and would finish his time on WCW's lower television shows and wrestle on house shows before leaving the company.
Eaton would become a regular on the independent circuit for years until health matters forced him out of the ring, although he would continue to make appearances for independent promoters/
Bobby Eaton had the knack of being able to look realistic in a business that often makes stars of those that are not and he did so by being a wrestler that not only made himself look strong but his opponents as well.
Eaton's ability to throw a punch well as noted above was top notch but his ability to take one was also above and beyond the abilities of many.
Eaton taking a shot with his long hair flying about, bouncing into a corner or off the mat was renowned for its value with Eaton often rubbing his jaw to emphasize the power of the blow.
The major bumps that Eaton took from opponents also helped stamp him as an elite wrestler of the time as Eaton would take drops and slams that few others would take even if they were capable of taking- which very few were.
The best in the game wanted to work with Bobby Eaton, even with Eaton's status as a tag team wrestler as both Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair took specific lengths to program themselves in television programs with Eaton with Rhodes doing a series of matches on their "World Wide" show that saw Eaton win the first two matches by disqualification and count-out before Rhodes won via pin in a steel cage match that saw Rhodes throw Eaton off the top of the cage to end the series.
And there was the interaction with manager Jim Cornette, complete with inferences that the two were a couple such as Cornette giving Condrey or Lane a high five before their matches before giving Eaton a hug and then a kiss on the cheek.
It was the small touches such as the above note that made the act of the Midnight Express so entertaining and made almost everyone that watched professional wrestling a fan of the threesome- even if many of them hated them at the time!
A final note about Bobby Eaton, who as noted above few spoke of in a negative manner, that I didn't know until recently.
Eaton traveled to his matches with two huge duffel bags that Jim Cornette compared to aircraft carriers, one of which was filled with his ring gear and extras of each of the items that he would need for his match that evening.
The other of the massive bags held everyday items such as towels, socks, toiletries, etc that were available to anyone that may have forgotten an item that they could need along with what Cornette described as a very large plastic bag filled with penny candy.
That not only speaks to the professionalism of Bobby Eaton in wanting to be prepared as possible for a situation but it also speaks of the generosity of the man outside of the ring.
I never met Bobby Eaton but I know people that have (including my nephew Jeff) and they rave about his kindness and gentleness as a person.
Bobby Eaton the wrestler isn't lost- he lives on through videos of his matches available through different avenues.
Bobby Eaton the man is the bigger loss to the world.
There just aren't that many good people in the world that we can afford to lose many before their time.
