Their day was before my day, but the more I’ve absorbed more matches, promos, etc over years and years, the more I can’t help but notice how much more entertaining the Freebirds and Midnight Expresss were over the Von Erichs and RNR, respectively. With the Von Erichs, I understand how in the territory days that regional ties meant something. Their Texas ties were special. But at the end of the day you had a bunch of guys with bowl cuts, pale skin and weird Neanderthal jaw lines trying to look cool while jogging awkwardly to the ring…while PS Hayes comes out oozing in fuking cool and dripping with more charisma out of his offhand pinky. Badstreet Atlanta G-A baby! Then there were Bam Bam and Roberts who brought the fuking goods, and rounded out arguably the greatest threesome the business has seen.

RNR Express might be the biggest head scratcher. Both looked like crackheads, who couldn’t cut it on the stick and came off as regional talent with their look and hokey entrance theme. Yet somehow they often get more acclaim in all-time tag team rankings vs. the Midnights. You also hear about the underage girls and their p3do behavior. Midnight Express, meanwhile, were like a million bucks. Like the Bobby and Dennis pairing, with Dennis as more of a worker and natural heat seeker than Stan, but I think Stan seemed to create more of a polished cohesiveness that tied it all together. The total package with one of the greatest wrestling minds, managers, you name it guiding the ship, who was decades ahead of his time. I don’t think the modern wrestling world nor those who have only absorbed attitude era onward truly embrace Cornette’s brilliance. It’s no wonder these guys were getting face reactions and eventually had to be turned, because they were too fuking cool for school.

Anyways, I’m curious what those here who might have been alive for more of the mix of it think of these feuds and general thoughts on that time period. Can understand that maybe the territory era and baby face emphasis was different then than now, but it seems like the crowds weren’t necessarily as black and white as one might think

What you describe the Von Erichs and RNR Exp look like was just not true in the 80s. Times were different, styles were different. What you saw was "in" and part of the 80's culture.

Fans didnt see the Von Erichs as bowl cut neanderthals. They were local and there was a lot of Texas pride. Not to mention they had good physiques.

Music was huge in 80s Wrestling . You had the Rock N Wrestling connection up north, and the RNR Exp, Midnight Exp and Freebirds was the rock n roll music/wrestling crossover for the South.

I didn't see a lot of Von Erich/Freebirds feud, but I did see a lot of RNR/Midnight Exp feud. Just 2 Rock N Roll teams only separated by a heel manager with a tennis racquet.

Back then we didnt have Internet resources and "the smarts" to break down matches and compare looks and take a look at things from a 30k foot view from the sky. I think the crowds were very black and white because you had Cornette as the line of demarcation between face and heel.

rock n roll express had more sex on the way to the ring than you've had in your life, pal

Ha ha, damn that’s good sh*t, pal! The gals were definitely flopping their tits and quivering their flaps for them at the drop of a dime.

That gist of how it was a different time was basically what I was getting at. It was clearly a different lense and different perspective involved at the time. They say less is more in wrestling, and I think less is more can apply to fan perspective as well. It can be a benefit for fanhood.

That’s an interesting thought comparing RNR and Midnight and while there’s more subtleties to their game, they were obviously paralleled as being more work based teams on their own, with Jim being an obvious separator. That brings up an interesting “what if” when it comes to these teams. What if Jim managed RNR instead?