The Midnight Express was originally formed in 1983 as a three-man tag team with Dennis Condrey, Randy Rose and Norvell Austin in Alabama's Southeast Championship Wrestling. The group's gimmick was the so-called "Freebird Rule"; which allowed any two members of the team to wrestle their matches on any given night, thus their opponents who had only (kayfabe) signed to face "The Midnight Express", didn't know which combination they would get.
