Best tag team wrestler of all time? I mean you have MX, the dangerous alliance and all their tags and I thought he kicked ass in the blue bloods and the ecw tag he was in. I might be missing another team outside of the kaos short lived connection but regardless that's a very good resume and as a singles star he always had good matches. I couldn't really point to one singles match particular but he was always a great worker. Thoughts....suggestions of matches and opinions as to where he ranks as a tag team wrestler fire away

I've been wondering, Eaton was so great at tags, how was he at singles? I Know he had some good matches and he is a great wrestler. What is his definitive singles matches?

Pretty damn great singles wrestler in 1990-1991. He has my favorite singles Flair match besides Wrestlewar and was really good vs. Steiner. I also liked the Taylor Halloween Havoc 91 match.

Bobby Eaton was great

As was that comment

Eaton was really good during the MX face run in late-88 / 89. He got to show off a lot of cool offense that you don't always see when MX are heel.

 

I am looking forward to his 1990 stuff.

Eaton was an outstanding wrestler. I think the consensus is that he was washed up by the time the Nitro era hit but I'm not sure that's true. Yes the Blue Bloods were extremely disappointing as a team and I'm sure he had slipped, but I suspect a lot of the stuff after that was weaker because of the chances he was given (not many). At his best (84-92?) he was right near the top of the list for U.S. workers. When I was thinking about my top ten U.S. guys ever I gave him consideration though I think he falls slightly outside of it. Great brawler, excellent big punches, tremendous highspots, good stooging, great at selling big spots or long term exhaustion, very good timing, dynamic, innovative in a good way, knew how to pace a match and work different speeds...not a lot of weaknesses at all. Yeah he's bland on the surface, but in the ring he was anything but. I don't think he's a better tag wrestler than Ricky Morton though.

Anyone who knows me, knows that pretty much nothing in wrestling "upsets" me. But there have been some random things over the last 30 years that pop into my head now and again that I remember thinking, "Man, fuck this shit." and I was actual pissed off. That bit in WCW where Flair and Arn were paying off veteran scrub guys to throw matches to David Flair had one with Bobby Eaton is one of them.

Eaton was just a super worker. One of the most underrated guys ever in wrestling. I don't know how many times he'd be involved in some 8 minute television match and he is taking these absurd bumps. He looks like he's killing himself. I'm at home watching going why are you killing yourself here, you're already putting the other team over. I think he's the only wrestler ever to get that reaction from me . I can't wait for the MX set.

Yes the Blue Bloods were extremely disappointing as a team and I'm sure he had slipped, but I suspect a lot of the stuff after that was weaker because of the chances he was given (not many).

Thus far the Bluebloods have been pretty fun considering the garbage they had to work with : Nasties and Harlem Heat. But yeah, Eaton had slipped by that time. Washed up ? I wouldn't say so. He was still really damn solid in everything he was doing, and yeah he wasn't given any chance after that really (although the Bluebloods really didn't get that much of a chance either when you think about it).

Bobby Eaton is one of the most underrated wrestlers from the past 30 years. His work with Jimmy Hart in Memphis back in 1982 against Kokomo, to his work with Condry and then in my opinion his best work along side Stan Lane. I haven't seen much of his work post 1990, but his matches with Flair in late 1989 early 1990 are some of the best I've seen. For tag team wrestlers I don't think anyone is better...

Eaton was an outstanding wrestler. I think the consensus is that he was washed up by the time the Nitro era hit but I'm not sure that's true. Yes the Blue Bloods were extremely disappointing as a team and I'm sure he had slipped, but I suspect a lot of the stuff after that was weaker because of the chances he was given (not many). At his best (84-92?) he was right near the top of the list for U.S. workers. When I was thinking about my top ten U.S. guys ever I gave him consideration though I think he falls slightly outside of it. Great brawler, excellent big punches, tremendous highspots, good stooging, great at selling big spots or long term exhaustion, very good timing, dynamic, innovative in a good way, knew how to pace a match and work different speeds...not a lot of weaknesses at all. Yeah he's bland on the surface, but in the ring he was anything but. I don't think he's a better tag wrestler than Ricky Morton though.

 

Would you put him at a close two then? I can see Morton being one and Eaton being one A as well.

If we are restricting to U.S. guys he's a very solid contender for two. I think Barry Windham is an outstanding tag wrestler as is Arn.

I havent seen too much of Windham in tag matches but i definitely agree with Arn.

I like how many partners Arn and Bobby had.

 

Bobby had fairly successful runs with Gulas, Koko, Condrey, Lane, Arn, Benoit, Keirn (ok that wasn't successful), and Regal/Taylor.

Over a span of about 15 years. Yeah, that's pretty damn impressive. Morton, Eaton, Arn and Windham are the quintessential US tag team workers to me too.

No love for Billy Gunn?

Honestly?

 

What Billy Gunn did was pretty impressive in its own right. I'm not sure you can give a lot of stock to the Smoking Gunns. They were kind of a "face of WWF" team between 94-95, but those were the dark ages drawing-wise. But New Age Outlaws were over, and according to some people, hugely over and key. And then Billy and Chuck were pretty featured players for a while, for one reason or another. They were three wildly different styled tag teams too.

Yea i said it tongue in cheek but with a little validation. While he's not among the greatest tag workers exactly he's still a pretty good tag wrestler. I mean it doesnt get any more diverse than those three teams but then again it doesnt get any gayer than those three teams either. Tight pants cowboys, thong wearing degenarate, and most likely thong wearing butt buddy. So maybe its not as diverse as i thought. All kidding aside all three teams were very valuable at their time and they always had at least decent matches.

This is about Bobby Eaton. No WWF-ing this thread.

Bobby had a slew of babyface tags and six mans in 91. For the yearbook project you guys just went through a ton of them. Does his FIP work here stand out?

There is a Bad Attitude v Arn/Steamboat return match from main event on dailymotion that I think people here would really enjoy. Arn is a super fun FIP worker and Eaton is just constantly doing stuff.

Over a span of about 15 years. Yeah, that's pretty damn impressive. Morton, Eaton, Arn and Windham are the quintessential US tag team workers to me too.

 

I'd agree with all of these picks. I'd throw Steamboat in the mix too. His run with Youngblood is really good, his tag team with Dustin produced good matches , I thought him and Shane were really good too. I loved how they would ape a bunch of the double team spots from the Steamboat/Youngblood team. Steamboat had good tag matches with partners he didn't tag long term with like Sting, Santana, Arn, Nikita, etc. Heck he even had some decent tags carrying JYD against Muraco and Fuji which really says a ton for him.

Yeah, I thought about putting Steamboat in the mix too, but there is that pretty long span of being a single wrestler that prevented me from doing so. That being said, he was a pretty awesome tag team worker too, yes.

I thought Arn was a pretty bad babyface tag worker with Flair in '93, but the again I just think Arn is not a terribly good babyface.

 

NWA World Tag Team Champions Midnight Express vs RNR Express 8/16/86 2/3 Falls.

 

Nothing makes a day brighter than watching the Battle of the Two Expresses. Bobby with a top wristlock early, which surprises me as usually the MX get virtually no offense at the beginning of matches. Morton armdrags out and all is right with the world as the RNR humiliate MX. Morton leapfrogs sending Condrey into Eaton sending the crowd into a tizzy and putting a smile on my face. Condrey takes a bunch of atomic drops. The transition spot is that Morton sets to early on a back drop attempt and Eaton crushes him with an elbow. It was exceptionally done as usually the babyface sets way too early this one seemed much better timed. They work over Morton's arm and really fling him into the corner. It was an impressive bump. Hot tag to Gibson and a roll-up scores the fall. Putting RNR up 1-0.

 

Gibson crashes and burns on a reverse cross body block attempt and then Eaton holds the ropes sending him tumbling over onto the floor. Condrey backbreaker even the score.

 

MX tears off the bandage on Gibson's back that I did not previously notice ok that explains the second fall. Gibson in peril and here comes the MX offense: Picture perfect Rocket Launcher, maybe the best ever, and an Eaton elbow drop. Morton is in. As great as Morton is at face in peril, he is such a great hot tag. Morton with a missile dropkick and Eaton/Gibson fighting distracts ref. Eaton breaks free and elbow drops Morton. Eaton covers Morton and Gibson stops the ref hand pointing out Eaton is not the legal man. Condrey sends Morton outside. As he looks to slam him Morton uses the momentum to cradle him for the victory.

 

Personally, I think the Wrestlewar '90 is a lot better, but right now that maybe my favorite match. This is still a lot of fun with some really great work from both teams. The beginning was the usual fun goodness from the two teams. The second fall put the MX right back in the thick of things with a combination of underhanded tactics and psychology. It also set the table with the 3rd fall where it looked like the MX had all the momentum exploiting Gibson's injury only for the RNR to overcome the odds.