How 'Beautiful' Bobby Eaton Got His Nickname

During the early '80s, there was one tag team that would pave the way for how future tag teams would operate and become successful. And while "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton and "Loverboy" Dennis Condrey didn't have huge success in the likes of the then-WWF, their partnership would be the template for later teams. The Rockers, the Brain Busters, and the Hart Foundation would all capitalize on the successes of the Midnight Express later on in the decade and into the '90s. Thrown together by wrestling promoter Bill Watts of the Mid-South wrestling territory (via the Gorilla Position), Eaton was teamed up with former wrestling rival "Loverboy" Dennis Condrey and managed by the notorious Jim Cornette.

Eaton and Condrey weren't the first pair to adopt the moniker "Midnight Express," however. Cornette was the real mastermind behind the team and in 1980, Cornette had paired Condrey with Ravishing Randy Rose (via Famous Birthdays) while the pair were in the Southeastern Championship Wrestling (SCW) territory, to form the first iteration of the Midnight Express (via Pro Wrestling Stories). For the next 3 years, the team would punish wrestlers from the SCW. By the end of '83, the Midnight Express had run its course and Condrey would end up leaving SCW altogether.

Heading to the Mid-South wrestling territory, Condrey would be convinced by Jim Cornette to resurrect the Midnight Express. This time, however, Cornette suggested that Condrey team up with whom Pro Wrestling Stories called the "best young in-ring talent of the time," Bobby Eaton. At the tender age of 25, Eaton and Condrey would reform the Midnight Express with a little twist. Since Condrey was known as "Loverboy" at the time, Eaton adopted the title "beautiful" to his name, completing the theme. In 1984, the newly revised Midnight Express made their debut against the Mid-South's tag team champs Magnum TA and Mr. Wrestling II. Winning the match, Midnight Express' manager Jim Cornette would go on to tar and feather Magnum TA (via KB Wrestling Reviews).

Over the next four years, Eaton and Condrey would battle other tag teams in the Mid-South Territory and for North-Carolina-based Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), including The Rock & Roll Express and the Fantastics (via Pro Wrestling Stories). However, it would all come crashing down for the Midnight Express in 1987 when "Loverboy" Dennis Condrey quit JCP for the greener pastures he saw in the then WWF (via Wrestling-News.Net). Eaton, meanwhile, continued to wrestle across the country, eventually joining the WCW in 1993. The wrestler would go on to use the moniker "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton until 2015 when he officially retired from wrestling. Eaton died on August 5, 2021. He was 62.