The Rock 'n' Roll Express

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The Rock 'n' Roll Express
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(left to right) Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson
Statistics
Members Ricky Morton
Robert Gibson
Debuted 1983
Disbanded Active
Promotions ECW
NWA
SMW
WWF
USWA

The Rock 'n' Roll Express was a professional wrestling tag team comprised of Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson that was popular in the 1980's.

[edit] History

The Rock 'n' Roll Express was formed by Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson in 1983 in Memphis. They were originally paired together as an alternative to the popular team of Steve Keirn and Stan Lane, The Fabulous Ones, when they couldn't wrestle in certain towns. The gimmick of the Rock 'N Roll Express was a couple of high flying wrestlers who loved hair metal music, as it was a popular genre of music at the time. They soon made their way to Mid-South Wrestling where they started a legendary feud with The Midnight Express that would carry on into the NWA. They also appeared in Legends of Wrestling 2 the video game.

They went to the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985 and won 4 NWA World Tag Team Championships over the next couple of years there. Their first championship came on July 9, 1985 and lasted until October 13 that same year. At Starrcade 85, they recaptured the titles only to lose them on a prime time WTBS special, "Superstars on the Superstation," on February 7, 1986. This is significant because televised matches between major contenders were rarely shown in those days. Their loss to the Midnight Express only served to make them even more popular during the 80s professional wrestling boom. They won the titles back in Philadelphia on August 16, 1986, and held them until a Saturday night prime time broadway match on WTBS' World Championship Wrestling against Rick Rude and the Raging Bull Manny Fernandez. This match is memorable for the fact that even though it was a 60 minute match, about one third of the match was Rude applying a reverse chinlock to Morton, leading some people to call it "The match of the 20 minute resthold"[citation needed].

In an ironic twist, 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 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.

It is significant to note that despite the rarity of high quality matches on television in those days, the Rock 'n' Roll Express actually lost their titles on television three separate times. The final loss came in the fall of 1987 to Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard thanks to a pre-match attck by their longtime rivals The Midnight Express. (They would win 4 more in later years, but only the first 4 were also recognized by World Championship Wrestling later on.)

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.

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 1991, Ricky turned on Robert to join the York Foundation and they feuded.

They reunited in 1992 in Smoky Mountain Wrestling and feuded with the Heavenly Bodies, and won the tag team titles 9 times.

In 1996, they returned to WCW, but used sparingly on the pre-taped B-Shows, WCW Saturday Night and WCW Pro, as jobbers. They left in 1997 to participate in indy feds.

In 1998, they were in the WWF as part of the NWA angle but it did not last long. They also made several appearances in WCW as jobbers to put over younger talent.

In 2005, they can be occasionally found to team up in the independents although Gibson is semi-retired.

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • Regional
  • NWA Wildside Tag Team Championship (1 time)

[edit] Theme songs

Their initial theme song was "Rock and Roll is King" by Electric Light Orchestra.

In early 1987, however, Ricky Morton released his own single that became the Express entrance theme, "Boogie Woogie Dance Hall." It was featured in promotions on WTBS, backed with "Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut."

In Smoky Mountain Wrestling they used the song "Old Time Rock & Roll" by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band.

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