Midnight Rockers The Rockers

1 midnight rockers

1.1 nwa central states wrestling (1985)
1.2 american wrestling association (1986–1987)
1.3 various promotions (1987–1988)

midnight rockers
nwa central states wrestling (1985)

marty jannetty , shawn michaels first met , struck friendship when both competed national wrestling alliance s central states wrestling territory in kansas city in 1985. travel (along dave d.j. peterson) since jannetty either teaming tommy rogers (better known tommy lane of rock n roll rpms) uptown boys, or teaming central states booker ”bulldog” bob brown. after team of jannetty , brown broke michaels , jannetty started teaming up, although not given team name. on may 15, 1985 michaels , jannetty defeated batten twins (brad & bart) win nwa central states tag team championship. first title reign short-lived batten twins regained title week later on may 22, 1985. shortly after team lost csw tag team title, michaels left kansas city , nwa, , returned homestate of texas work texas all-star wrestling. in tasw shawn began teaming paul diamond ”american force” , team of jannetty , michaels seemed never meant permanent thing.

american wrestling association (1986–1987)

in 1986, both jannetty , michaels signed american wrestling association (awa) needed young talent replace wrestlers had switched world wrestling federation (wwf) expanding towards becoming national company. 2 paired awa bookers; greg gagne (son of owner , 1 of bookers) suggested name ”the country rockers”, idea name u.s. express (as told marty during interview on awa television aired in 1986) not keen on idea 2 of them came name midnight rockers inspired judas priest’s ”living after midnight”. awa owner verne gagne did not seem understand idea, (in fact quoted wondering if fans might confuse name rocking chairs) let team go ahead , use name.

the 2 started wearing identical outfits , develop ”fun loving pretty boy” gimmick known throughout time together. after wrestling on lower end of card fans familiar team midnight rockers moved onto feud team of doug somers , buddy rose @ time 1 of top teams in promotion. initial outing somers , rose @ wrestlerock stadium show on april 20, 1986 did not go jannetty , michaels lost in front of 22,000 fans. when somers , rose beat scott hall , curt hennig awa world tag team championship midnight rockers found chasing main tag team title of promotion. midnight rockers teamed curt hennig defeat somer, rose , alexis smirnoff @ ”battle bay” on june 28, 1986 prove indeed capable of beating champions. midnight rockers repeatedly challenge somers throughout rest of 1986 never quite able win when title on line. near end of year, jannetty , michaels defeated champions in ”non-title” steel cage match on december 25, 1986 on awa’s ”brawl in st. paul” show. month later on january 27, 1987 midnight rockers defeated rose , somers awa tag team title. jannetty , michaels realized awa promotion in decline, in fact shut down 1990, , decided best bet work wwf. midnight rockers got offer vince mcmahon while holding awa tag title. midnight rockers signed wwf while still holding gold, necessitating quick title change unproven duo of boris zhukov , soldat ustinov on may 25, 1987.

various promotions (1987–1988)

the team made first wwf appearance in 1987 5 days after dropping awa tag team titles @ house show in st. paul, minnesota challenged wwf world tag team champions hart foundation title match. 4 days later midnight rockers wrestled @ first tv taping show wwf wrestling challenge defeating team of jose estrada, sr. , jimmy jack funk. match 1 , taped appearance wwf fired after few short weeks federation, rockers had matches house shows against shadows. team fired because of excessive partying , not enough focusing on in ring work.

after being fired wwf, went down continental wrestling around alabama , pensacola, florida. according heartbreak , triumph dvd, michaels unhappy there. when bob armstrong took on booking, gave them 2 weeks notice no longer needed , bringing in tag team.

after way had left awa michaels , jannetty not return nothing had happened, instead midnight rockers started working awa affiliated championship wrestling association (cwa) in memphis, tennessee. team had made couple of appearances in cwa in past part of working agreement awa in memphis full-time. first feud in memphis against formed team known nasty boys (jerry sags , brian knobs) whom faced in several brutal matches on cwa territory. after nasty boys, rockers got involved in feud “the nightmares” (danny davis , ken wayne). villainous personas of self-obsessed, glory seeking ”superstars”, same persona michaels later adopt ”the hearbreak kid”. feud rpms saw midnight rockers defeat lane , davis win awa southern tag team championship on october 26, 1987. jannetty , michaels lost regained southern tag team title midnight rockers / rpms feud raged on.

with success in memphis, awa started book them well, having midnight rockers split time between memphis , awa territory – in memphis midnight rockers heels in awa faces (good guys), possible before advent of national television deals , easy internet access. on december 27, 1987 midnight rockers defeated original midnight express (dennis condrey , randy rose) awa world tag team title. since had won awa world tag team titles, jannetty , michaels forced vacate awa southern tag team titles in january 1988. while in cwa, had brief feud rock n roll express on awa world tag team titles. after short while in awa jannetty , michaels began asking more money , guaranteed contract owner verne gagne. when request denied midnight rockers quit awa without having found promotion work. before left promotion, lost awa tag team championship on march 19 badd company (pat tanaka , paul diamond).