Dax Harwood reflects on the life and legacy of Bobby Eaton.
FTR has always been open about their love of tag team wrestling. Inspired by such teams as The Hart Foundation, The Rock N’ Roll Express, and The Midnight Express, FTR has taken great pride in revitalizing tag team wrestling. At one point, they named their finish "The Goodnight Express."
Sadly, on Thursday, August 5, 2021, Bobby Eaton of The Midnight Express passed away at the age of 62. Eaton was the only consistent member of The Jim Cornette-led Midnight Express tag team, having teamed with both “Sweet” Stan Lane, and “Loverboy” Dennis Condrey.
After the Express disbanded, Eaton would team with Arn Anderson and William Regal as part of two more great tag teams.
Following his passing, many individuals shared their memories of Bobby on social media, and Dax Harwood, in particular, posted a very heartfelt Instagram post about what Bobby meant to him and how he was able to hear, through Bobby's now-deceased wife, that Bobby Eaton was very fond of FTR and the work that they had done in tag team wrestling.
I know it’s true, but I don’t want to believe it. “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton has a legitimate claim to being maybe the greatest in-ring performer of all time. If you dispute that, it’s because either your lack of knowledge or because you don’t know good wrestling.
He also has a legitimate claim as being one of the very few men to change the style of professional wrestling. Tiger Mask, Dynamite Kid, Bret, Shawn, Liger, they all get their respective praise. But This man was doing things people in North America had never seen before; and he did it so effortlessly!
I’ve never seen someone execute excitement, precision, intensity, and action the way Bobby did. Cash & I get compared to Arn & Tully on a daily basis. But truth is, I probably studied more Midnight Express matches than any other tag team. On our bus trips with NXT or our car rides from town to town, I always carried my portable DVD player. Yes, from 2016-2019 I still carried a portable dvd player @cashwheelerftr @iameliaswwe . I have a 36 disc set of the best of The Midnight Express. They created the style of tag team wrestling that has become popular today (well, using the rules). Bobby & Dennis were the greatest; everyone else was second best.
I met Bobby a few times and one particular night, I asked his advice. He said (and I’m paraphrasing) “always go out to steal the show. Old timers will tell you to slow down or not do as much. Always give them your best stuff and steal the show.”
Every night, Bobby stole the show. There will NEVER be another like him.
His wife actually added me on Facebook a few months ago (before she passed) and sent me messages telling me words from Bobby. We were his favorite tag team. He appreciated us keeping tag team wrestling alive. After our Tv matches would air, shes message me to tell me what Bobby would say about them and how impressed he was with our work. That will forever mean the world to me.
Here are just a FEW clips I have saved in my phone of Bobby’s work, things I wanted to emulate, and times I couldn’t believe just how good he actually was.
Rest In Peace, Bobby Eaton. I hope now, you can see how many people actually love you.
You can see more reactions from within the wrestling world regarding Bobby Eaton passing away at this link.
