WWE: Paul Heyman's 10 Greatest Protegees

7. The "Original" Midnight Express

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fdc6Zfv2Lg Throughout the 1980s, there were arguably no more consistent of a heel unit in wrestling's territorial era than Jim Cornette managing "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton and "Sweet" Stan Lane, the Midnight Express. The tennis racket wielding "mama's boy" and his prized pets were a money making trio throughout the 80s, feuding most notably with the Rock N Roll Express. However, by 1988, the Midnight Express' shtick had arguably grown a bit long in the tooth, and the decision was made to turn the Midnight Express babyface. The job of making the Jim Cornette and the Midnights good guys was given to none other than Paul E., managing the team of Randy Rose and ex-Midnight Express member Dennis Condrey. As a concept, the Midnight Express started in Tennessee and Alabama's Southeastern Championship Wrestling. Though later an initial member of the Cornette-led Express with Bobby Eaton, Dennis Condrey started the team with Randy Rose in 1980 in the Tennessee/Alabama territory. Thus, when Rose and Condrey began successfully working with Paul E. Dangerously in the AWA in 1987, when the chance came to come to the NWA to feud with Cornette, Eaton and Lane, it was a no-brainer. The moment when Dangerously bloodies the white-suited Cornette after hitting him over the head with his ubiquitous cell phone is one of the late 80s most signature wrestling occurrences. In a case of loving the a**hole you know and hating the a**hole you don't, the turn worked perfectly and led to immediate spotlight being placed not just on Heyman, but on Randy Rose (who had never appeared in the territory) and Condrey (who had not appeared in the territory in just about a year. In again highlighting strengths, Heyman created immediate worth as if from nothing in the case of the "Original" Midnight Express.