Stan Lane

Infobox Wrestler
name = “Sweet” Stan Lane
names = Stan Lane Stan Flair
height = 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
weight = 224 lb (102 kg)
birth_date = birth date and age|1953|8|5
birth_place = Greensboro, North Carolina
resides = Greensboro, North Carolina
trainer = Ric Flair
debut = 1974
retired = 2005

Wallace Stanfield "Sweet Stan" Lane (born August 5, 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina) is a professional wrestler, trained by Ric Flair who started wrestling in 1974 in Championship Wrestling from Florida. For a brief time in Florida, he was nicknamed Nature Boy. He is best known as one half of The Fabulous Ones, the Midnight Express and the Heavenly Bodies.

The Fabulous Ones

In 1982, he went to Mid-Southern Wrestling and formed a team called The Fabulous Ones with Steve Keirn. This legendary tag team is considered one of the greatest in the history of professional wrestling by many experts. They feuded with the Midnight Express, Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee, The Sheepherders (Butch Miller & Luke Williams), Randy Savage & Leapin' Lanny Poffo and the Moondogs with whom they had a series of exceptionally bloody matches. They were also pioneers in the "MTV style" of promotion, creating promotional videos and spectacular entrances with their popular theme song "Everybody Wants You" by Billy Squier.

The Midnight Express

In the early parts of 1987 Dennis Condrey left JCP from one day to the next leaving former partner Bobby Eaton on his own. Enter a man that Eaton is very familiar with and a man who’s no stranger to tag-teaming, Stan Lane formerly of ‘’the Fabulous Ones’’’. Lane and Eaton knew each other well from working against each other in the past and this showed as the new version of the Midnight Express gelled from the beginning. Early on “Sweet” Stan added a deep radio “DJ voice” for manager Jim Cornette that would enrage the crowd.

In May 1987 the combination of Eaton and Lane proved to be a golden one as they won the NWA US Tag-Team titles (A title they would win three times during their time together). A year later the team was cheered on to victory as the Midnight Express won the NWA World Tag-Team Titles from Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard "(See also: Brain Busters)" on September 10, 1988. This feat meant that they were the first tag-team to ever hold both the NWA World tag-team and NWA United States tag-team titles, a feat only the Steiner Brothers would go on to duplicate in 1991. The Midnight Express’ run with the titles only last a little over a month and a half before the Road Warriors took the gold from them in a brutal match up that saw the Road Warriors turn heel (bad guys) and the Midnight Express turn face (good guys).

Now the fan favorites the Midnight Express soon had to contend with a blast from the past: The Midnight Express. Only this Midnight Express was billed as The Original Midnight Express as it consisted of Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose who had teamed up before Condrey and Eaton became a team. The duo was led by long time Jim Cornette nemesis Paul E. Dangerously in the hopes of proving that the originals were better than the new version. The shock of seeing the Original Midnight Express gave Dangerously’s team the initial advantage in the feud but once again Dennis Condrey left, being replaced by Jack Victory to cut the feud short.

Due to various booking issues Jim Cornette and the Midnight Express left the promotion for a short while, around the time that Ted Turner brought out Jim Crockett and began promoting the federation as the National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling. When the booking issues started to clear up Cornette and the Midnight Express returned to the federation and a very strong tag-team division. One of those teams was The Dynamic Dudes (Shane Douglas & Johnny Ace) , who admitted that the Midnight Express was one of their favorite team and asked if Cornette would be their manager as well. Cornette agreed but the Midnight Express were not happy about it at all. After arguing Jim Cornette stopped accompanying the Express to the ring, choosing to only manage the Dudes. At the Clash of Champions IX the two teams met with Jim Cornette in a neutral corner, forced to choose between the teams. The Express started out very aggressive, especially for a team that was supposed to be fan favorites and when the night was over the Midnight Express had once again established themselves as heels with Jim Cornette in their corner, Cornette had never stopped siding with the Express.

After their heel turn the Midnight Express started feuding with Flyin’ Brian and ”Z-Man” Tom Zenk over the recently re-activated US Tag-Team titles, winning the gold from the young team in early 1990. The Midnight Express would lose the titles to The Steiner Brothers 3 months later.

After appearing at Halloween Havoc 1990 the Midnight Express split up when Jim Cornette and Stan Lane left the federation, due to conflicts with Jim Herd. For the first time in 7 years there was no Midnight Express, it was the end of an era in tag-team wrestling.

The Heavenly Bodies

To fans excitement, he reformed the Fabulous Ones with Keirn briefly in the USWA, with Cornette as their manager. On January 7, 1991, they won the USWA Tag Team titles, defeating Tony Anthony and Chris Bullock . Three weeks later, on January 28, after a controversial match with Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Lawler, the titles were held up; a week later, on February 4, the rematch for the held-up titles was held and they lost the match and the titles to Lawler and Jarrett.

In October 1991, he went to Smoky Mountain Wrestling to reunite with Cornette and form a new team called "The Heavenly Bodies" with Tom Prichard. They feuded with the Rock 'N Roll Express and won the tag team titles 5 times, until he retired from the ring and was replaced in the team by Jimmy Del Ray.

Retirement and comeback

He retired in 1993 and went to work for the World Wrestling Federation as a member of the WWF's broadcast team. He began as a color commentator alongside Vince McMahon on WWF Superstars. He then went on to become the host of WWF Wrestling Challenge in 1994, where he worked with Ted DiBiase and Gorilla Monsoon. Lane also did voiceover work of matches that were taped exclusively for Coliseum Video. He worked with DiBiase and Monsoon for those too. He also worked as a commentator in Ted DiBiase's promotion, WXO.

He left after about a year and retired. Lane returned in the late-1990s and again reformed "The Fabulous Ones" for a few cards in Bert Prentice's NWA Wildside promotion to wild fan reception. In 2004, Lane wrestled on several shows with Condrey and Eaton in the independent promotions in the Mid-Atlantic area. He retired from all wrestling in 2005.

Championships and accomplishments

*Championship Wrestling from Florida:*NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Bryan St. John [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/fl/fl-t.html Florida Tag Team Title history] At wrestling-titles.com] :*NWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Steve Keirn [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/fl/nwa/fl-us-t.html NWA United States Tag Team Title (Florida version) history] At wrestling-titles.com]

*Continental Wrestling Association:*AWA Southern Tag Team Championship (16 times) - with Steve Keirn (14), Koko Ware (1), and Ron Bass (1) [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/cwa/awa-s-t.html NWA Mid-America/AWA Southern Tag Team Title history] At wrestling-titles.com]

*Georgia Championship Wrestling:*NWA Georgia Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/ga/ga-j.html NWA Georgia Junior Heavyweight Title history] At wrestling-titles.com]

*Jim Crockett Promotions | World Championship Wrestling:*NWA United States Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Bobby Eaton¹ [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-us-t.html NWA/WCW United States Tag Team Title history] At wrestling-titles.com] :*NWA World Tag Team Championship "(Mid-Atlantic version)" (1 time) - with Bobby Eaton [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/nwa/ma-nwa-t.html NWA World Tag Team Title (Mid-Atlantic/WCW) history] At wrestling-titles.com]

*Southwest Championship Wrestling:*SCW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Steve Keirn [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tx/san_antonio/scw/scw-t.html SCW World Tag Team Title history] At wrestling-titles.com]

*Smoky Mountain Wrestling:*SMW Tag Team Championship (5 times) - with Tom Prichard [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/knoxville/smw/smw-t.html Smokey Mountain Wrestling Tag Team Title history] At wrestling-titles.com]

*United States Wrestling Association:*USWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Steve Keirn [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/uswa/uswa-t.html USWA World Tag Team Title history] At wrestling-titles.com]

*"'Pro Wrestling Illustrated
**PWI Tag Team of the Year award in 1987 - with Bobby Eaton

¹Lane and Eaton's third reign with the NWA United States Tag Team Championship happened after Ted Turner's purchase of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling from Jim Crockett, Jr. in November 1988. Turner renamed the promotion World Championship Wrestling and it remained an NWA affiliated promotion where some NWA championships were defended until WCW's withdrawal from the NWA in late 1993.Finishing Move: Myawashi Leg Kick

References

External links

* [http://www.themidnightexpress.com/ Official Midnight Express Tribute Site]
* [http://www.accelerator3359.com/Wrestling/bios/slane.html "Wrestling Accelerator" Profile: Stan Lane]
* [http://www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com/ Memphis Wrestling History]