Glass Hand Dissolving: Rock 'n' Roll Express

 vs The Midnight Express (Mid-South 4/21/1984)

This is the second televised match, as far as I know, between these two teams. It is a pretty standard, but pretty good, television tag. Ricky and Robert are already over, getting the better of the Midnights, but then Cornette comes out in a dress and nails Ricky with his purse. The referee sniffs the whole thing out and calls for the DQ. Not a great match; it wasn't supposed to be, but you can see already that these teams are, probably not made for each other at this point, but sympatico for sure.

vs Randy Savage & Lanny Poffo (Memphis 6/25/1984)

This is the famous match that ends with Savage hitting a piledriver on a table. I think that moment had to have been transcendent in 1984. I have to say that the match leading up to that moment is fine, but I don't know if it is quite up to the level of violence for that to be the next logical step, but I suppose that just excentuates the unpredictability of Randy Savage. As for the match, it is a pretty basic formula. RnRs work a short shine, Savage and Lanny work a pretty good heat, RnRs have a short but effective comeback, and then we get the DQ finish. It's a formula because it works. 

vs The Midnight Express (JCP 9/7/1986)

This is a twenty-plus minute match on television in 1986. That wasn't really the sort of thing that happened very often. I think it is a perfectly fine match; I would say the Midnights might have worked too long of a heat on Robert, but it was effective. I think the finish, in the strictest sense, where Ricky throws the referee out of the ring for no real reason, leading to an eventual DQ and a whole bunch of other people getting involved, is not great in conception or execution. It's a vehicle to get to all the things that come later, and in that way it works, but there is no reason for Ricky to throw the referee out of the ring. Cornette and Big Bubba get involved, which draws out Dusty, and because Dusty is involved, this becomes about Dusty. 

vs Ric Flair & Arn Anderson (WCW 12/10/1990)

This is pretty easily the best match of this set so far. I don't get as much out of the Flair/Morton stuff as a lot of other people do. I just don't buy Morton on that level, and so everything feels like Flair is slumming it with a guy below his stature. In this match, you don't quite get that sense, but I do feel some of the same things. It just isn't a pairing I like. As for the match, it is mostly the RnRs working a very long shine, which Arn and Flair do a great job of selling for. The Horsemen turn the tide with some underhanded tactics, and only win because the referee doesn't see Morton's foot on the bottom rope. I'm coming to the conclusion that you have some teams that are compilers, some teams that have are capable of reaching incredible highs, and then some teams that are always great. I think the RnRs are compilers, maybe the greatest ever, but because of that you can only get a true sense having watched a ton of TV from when they're in a promotion. 

vs Well Dunn (WWF 10/10/1993)

This is another pretty solid match that only is allowed to reach a certain level because it needs to serve an angle, and in this case another angle featuring Jim Cornette. For the most part, this is a match that never really gets going, in a sense of match structure. We don't ever really get into a heat; instead, both teams work a fairly even match that brings out Cornette, who then gets involved, mostly by targeting Robert Gibson with his tennis racket, which leads to Gibson looking for revenge, only to get ambushed by the Heavenly Bodies. 

Verdict

I think everything I have to say about this team, I said in my comments about them being compilers. Certainly a great team, but in my mind, in my view of greatness, the sorts of things I look for, that kind of resume isn't going to be an absolute upper-echelon team.