The Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton) (under the management of James E. Cornette) had a short stay in World Class Championship Wrestling in 1984, where they feuded mainly with The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers). When opportunities in WCCW looked to go nowhere, the Midnight Express signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1985. Shortly after joining WCW, the Midnight Express ignited their feud with the Rock 'n' Roll Express, from whom they won the WCW World Tag Team Titles in February 1986 on Superstars on the Superstation. Eaton and Condrey lost the titles back to the Rock 'n' Roll Express six months later. Besides feuding with the Rock 'n' Roll Express, Eaton and Condrey also had long-running feuds with The New Breed (Chris Champion and Sean Royal) as well as The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk). The feud with the Road Warriors included a high-profile scaffold match at Starrcade 1986, which the Midnight Express lost.
In March 1987, Dennis Condrey suddenly left WCW, leaving Eaton without a partner. Bubba Rogers worked a few dates, but Stan Lane was soon announced as the permanent replacement.
Eaton and Lane reached the semi-finals of the Crockett Cup Tag Team Tournament on April 11, 1987 in Baltimore. On May 16, 1987 the combination of Eaton and Lane won the WCW United States Tag Team Championships for the first time, a title they would win three times during their time together. A year later, the team was cheered on despite being heels as they won the WCW World Tag Team Titles from the Horsemen Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard on September 10, 1988. The Midnight Express' title run only lasted a little over a month-and-a-half before the Road Warriors (who had recently turned heel on Sting) took the gold from them in a brutal match.
After leaving WCW in 1987, Condrey united with Randy Rose in the AWA, where they won the AWA World Tag Team Championship, and were managed by Paul E. Dangerously and became known as The Original Midnight Express. In 1988, they went to WCW. Led by future Jim Cornette nemesis Paul E. Dangerously, Condrey and Rose set out to prove they were better than the new version. Condrey's and Rose's surprise appearance gave Dangerously's team the initial momentum in the feud, but the promising feud was cut short when Dennis Condrey left the promotion once more before a "loser leaves town" match at Chi-Town Rumble. Rose teamed with Jack Victory and took the pin, leaving the promotion.
In a tournament to determine new WCW World Tag Team Champions, the Midnight Express advanced to the finals before losing to the Freebirds with some assistance from the Samoan Swat Team. They engaged in a feud with the Freebirds and Samoans until the 1989 Great American Bash, where they teamed up with the Road Warriors and Steve Williams to defeat the Freebirds and Samoans in a WarGames match.
The Midnight Express soon turned heel as a result of a feud with the Dynamic Dudes (Johnny Ace and Shane Douglas). Jim Cornette duped the Dudes into thinking he wanted to be their manager but then turned on them during their match against the Midnight Express at Clash of the Champions IX in New York. The Dynamic Dudes gained a measure of revenge when the Midnight Express laid out an open challenge for any team for $10,000. After dispatching of a couple of no-name teams, the Express was challenged by the masked Dynamic Duo, billed from Gotham City, who pinned the Express and unmasked as Ace and Douglas. The feud soon lost steam and was forgotten soon after.
After returning to their cheating ways, the Midnight Express started a feud with the up-and-coming team of Flyin' Brian and "Z-Man" Tom Zenk over the United States Tag team Titles. The Express won the titles from the young team in early 1990, but lost them to The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) three months later. They were then defeated at Halloween Havoc 1990 by Tommy Rich and Ricky Morton.
In October 1990, Cornette and Lane left WCW, leaving behind Eaton and disbanding the Express for good.