The Rock 'n' Roll Express

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The Rock 'n' Roll Express
The Rock & Roll Express.jpg
Tag team
Members Ricky Morton
Robert Gibson
Ricky Fuji
Brad Armstrong
Marty Jannetty
Todd Morton
David Jericho
Tommy Gibson
Billed from Memphis, Tennessee Music City, USA
Debut 1983
Promotions ECW
WCW
NWA
WWC
MSWA
SMW
WWF
USWA
CWA
AWA
FMW

The Rock 'n' Roll Express are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson. The duo began teaming together in Memphis in the early 1980s, followed by Universal Wrestling Federation (known as Mid-South wrestling at the time), and then the National Wrestling Alliance's Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). In JCP, they held the NWA World Tag Team Championship four times. They also feuded with the Four Horsemen alliance. In the late 1980s, they were contenders for the American Wrestling Association's AWA World Tag Team Championship. By 1991, the team was losing steam, and Morton turned on his partner to join The York Foundation alliance in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In the 1990s, however, the team reformed in Smokey Mountain Wrestling, where they held the SMW Tag Team Championship ten times. The duo also worked in the World Wrestling Federation and WCW.

History

Formation

The Rock 'n' Roll Express was formed by Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson in 1983 in Memphis by head booker Jerry Lawler. They were originally paired together as an alternative to the popular team of The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn and Stan Lane) when they could not wrestle in certain towns. The gimmick of The Rock 'n' Roll Express was a couple of high flying wrestlers who loved glam metal music, as it was a popular genre of music at the time. In 1983 and 1984, the team participated in a series of matches against The Galaxians, the Bruise Brothers (Porkchop Cash and Troy Graham), and the team of Lanny Poffo and Randy Savage.[1]

They soon made their way to Mid-South Wrestling where they started a feud with the Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton, Dennis Condrey, and manager Jim Cornette). The feud began when Cornette threw a celebration for the Midnight Express after they won the Mid-South Tag Team Championship.[2] During the celebration, The Rock 'n' Roll Express shoved Cornette's face into the celebratory cake.[2] The rivalry between the two teams carried on into the National Wrestling Alliance.

Jim Crockett Promotions

They went to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) in 1985 and won four NWA World Tag Team Championships over the next couple of years. On July 9, 1985, the team debuted in JCP against the team of Ivan Koloff and Krusher Khrushchev, whom they defeated to begin their first reign as champions.[3] The reign lasted until October 13 of that same year. At Starrcade in 1985, they recaptured the title,[4][5] only to lose them on a prime time WTBS special, Superstars on the Superstation, on February 7, 1986. This title change is significant because televised matches between major contenders were rarely shown in those days. They won the title back in Philadelphia on August 16, 1986, and held them until a Saturday night prime time match on WTBS' World Championship Wrestling against Rick Rude and the Raging Bull Manny Fernandez. The Rock 'n' Roll Express won the belts back when Rude, still a champion, simply left the NWA to go work for Vince McMahon in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Needing to save face, promoter Jim Crockett had Ivan Koloff substitute for an 'injured' Rude, and the Express won the belts for what proved to be the final time.

In November 1986 at Starrcade, The Rock 'n' Roll Express defeated Ole Anderson and Arn Anderson in a Steel Cage match to retain the NWA World Tag Team Championship.[5] They lost their title for a third and final time in the fall of 1987 to Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard thanks to a pre-match attack by their longtime rivals The Midnight Express. (They would win four more in later years, but only the first four were also recognized by World Championship Wrestling later). They feuded heavily with Four Horsemen members Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, who constantly mocked them and attacked them outside of the ring.

AWA and return to the NWA

In 1988, The Rock 'n' Roll Express had a brief feud with The Midnight Rockers in the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), over the AWA World Tag Team Championship. Their first match on February 15, 1988, ended in controversy, causing the AWA World Tag Team title to be held up. A week later, on February 22, a rematch for the held-up titles was held and The Midnight Rockers won them back.

Returning to the NWA in 1989, with the advent of The Road Warriors and The Steiner Brothers as the new dominant face tag teams, the Rock 'n' Roll Express were turned into mid-carders. In July 1990, they challenged Doom for the NWA World Tag Team Championship at The Great American Bash, but lost. In June 1991 at Clash of the Champions, Morton turned on Gibson to join the York Foundation and they feuded, until Gibson was released.

Smoky Mountain Wrestling

They reunited in August 1992 in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) and feuded with the Heavenly Bodies, winning the tag team title ten times. The feud with the Heavenly Bodies, which had been ongoing for approximately a year,[6] included a barbed wire cage match and a Texas death match.[7] The rivalry carried over to both World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1993, splitting pay per view matches for the two promotions. The Rock 'n' Roll Express defeated the Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane and Dr. Tom Prichard) at WCW's SuperBrawl III event and the Bodies (this time Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray) defeating the Express for the SMW Tag Team Championship at the Survivor Series. Defending the SMW tag title at the event was part of an agreement between the WWF's Vince McMahon and SMW's Jim Cornette.[8]

Back in SMW in May 1994, The Rock 'n' Roll Express lost their title to the team of Chris Candido and Brian Lee, who were managed by Tammy Fytch.[9] The duo, however, won the title back in August.[9] After that feud ended, they feuded with The Gangstas over the titles. During that feud, they had Jim Cornette as their manager. Soon after the Gangstas feuded, Cornette betrayed Morton and Gibson, as they feuded with The Dynamic Duo, whom they lost the titles to in April 1995.

In April 1995, they defeated Dick Murdoch and Randy Rhodes to win the vacant NWA World Tag Team Championship. In June 1995, they were stripped of the titles, as their USWA match with PG-13 ended in controversy. A week later, they defeated PG-13 to win back the NWA World Tag Team titles and win the USWA World Tag Team Championship, making them double champions, but it didn't last, as they lost the USWA titles back to PG-13 a week later. In the fall of 1995, they vacated the NWA World Tag Team titles.

Return to the WCW, NWA, WWF, TNA & AWWL

In 1996, they returned to World Championship Wrestling (WCW), but used sparingly on the pre-taped B-Shows, WCW Saturday Night and WCW Pro, as preliminary wrestlers. They left in 1997 to participate in independent federations.

A year later, they were in the WWE for a brief stint as part of the NWA angle (managed by former rival James E. Cornette). During their time in the company, they appeared at WrestleMania XIV in March 1998 in a tag team battle royal, which was won by the Legion of Doom 2000.[10] They also had feuds with L.O.D. 2000 and The New Midnight Express having an NWA Tag Team Title match at the WWF Pay Per View Unforgiven against the New Midnight Express. They also made several appearances in WCW as lower card talent.

In early 2003, Morton & Gibson appeared in TNA as part of VInce Russo's Sports Entertainment Xtreme (SEX). The duo feuded with America's Most Wanted, Chris Harris & James Storm. In late 2003 and early 2004, they worked for the All World Wrestling League, owned by Eddie and Thomas Farhat, the sons of the "Original Sheik" Ed Farhat.

Starting in 2005, they would team up again, often wrestling against the Midnight Express in the Mid-Atlantic area. On June 7, 2008, they defeated The Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton) at the NWA 60th Anniversary Show in Atlanta, Georgia.

2009 and PWA

The Rock 'n' Roll Express have joined up with Booker T's Pro Wrestling Alliance in Houston, TX and have become the PWA Tag Team Champions.

The New Rock 'n' Roll Express

Over the years, when Morton and Gibson were not teaming with each other, they each had different tag team partners, calling themselves "The New Rock 'n' Roll Express." Ricky Morton teamed with Ricky Fuji while in Japan for FMW, and with Brad Armstrong, Kid Kash, or his cousin Todd in the independent circuit in the U.S., while Robert Gibson teamed with Marty Jannetty in IWA Japan as "The Rock 'n' Rockers," which played off both the Rock 'n' Roll Express and Jannetty's famous tag team with Shawn Michaels, The Rockers.

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

  • All-Star Wrestling
    • ASW Tag Team Championship (1 time)
  • Mid-South Wrestling Association
    • MSWA Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time)[15]
  • Pro Wrestling Elite
    • PWE Tag Team Championship[16]
  • Traditional Championship Wrestling
    • TCW Tag Team Championship (1 time)[17]
  • Ultimate Championship Wrestling
    • UCW Tag Team Championship (1 time)[15]
  • World Organization of Wrestling
    • WOW Tag Team Championship (1 time)

1During this win, the title was awarded to them and the records are unclear as to where this occurred and which promotion they wrestled for at the time.

References

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  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ What a maneuver! 15 moves that really exist
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ [1]
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Further reading

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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