NWA Mid-America (1976–1980)

In May 1976, at the age of 17, Eaton made his debut in NWA Mid-America. He entered his first match, a loss to Bearcat Wright, as a last-minute substitute for Wright's absent opponent.^[3][8] He quickly became a regular in Mid-America and continued to train with the more experienced wrestlers. Before long, fans, as well as promoter Nick Gulas, noticed Eaton's athleticism and showmanship. Gulas decided to "promote" Eaton up the ranks of NWA Mid-America, giving him matches later in the show, closer to the main event.^[9] The angle that helped elevate Eaton's name up the card in the promotion took place after the introduction of the tag team The Hollywood Blonds (Jerry Brown and Buddy Roberts). Eaton fought the Blonds with a variety of partners, including his old trainer Yamamoto and "Pistol" Pez Whatley. When the Blonds decided to move to a different wrestling promotion, the storyline maintained that Eaton was responsible for driving them out of NWA Mid-America.^[9]

In 1978, Eaton teamed with Leapin' Lanny Poffo, and together they won the NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship from Gypsy Joe and Leroy Rochester. It was Eaton's first title win, and he and Poffo held it for a little over a month. Eaton went on to form a team, known as The Jet Set, with George Gulas, Nick Gulas's son.^[8] Together, Eaton and Gulas held the tag team title three times.^[10] During their time as a team, the two were involved in a storyline feud with Terry Gordy and Michael Hayes before Gordy and Hayes became famous under the name The Fabulous Freebirds.^[9][11]

In the spring of 1979, Eaton started a feud with Chris Colt, designed to establish Eaton as more than just a good tag team competitor.^[12] The feud between the two was so heated that it saw Colt suspended for piledriving Eaton on the concrete floor, making it appear Eaton had been seriously injured. Eaton suffered no injuries, however. At that time, the piledriver was banned in most federations and treated as a move that could potentially paralyze a wrestler. This was done to give the move more "shock value".^[13] Eaton conclusively defeated Colt, earning a place as one of the top faces (good guys) in NWA Mid-America.^[9] During 1979 and 1980, Eaton worked a series of singles matches against Dennis Condrey, a man he would later team up with to gain worldwide fame.^[9]

At the end of 1979, Eaton turned heel (bad guy) for the first time in his career by joining Tojo Yamamoto's group of wrestlers, whom the fans hated. Although Eaton is now thought of mainly as a heel, his fans were surprised at the time. Eaton's heel run did not last long before he rescued his former Jet Set partner, George Gulas, from a two-on-one attack by The Blond Bombers (Larry Latham and Wayne Ferris) to return to the fan-favorite side once more. After reuniting the team, Eaton and Gulas had one final run with tag team champions and worked an intense feud with Latham and Ferris.^[14][15]

Continental Wrestling Association (1980–1983)

When Nick Gulas' wrestling promotion closed due to dwindling ticket sales, Eaton briefly wrestled for Georgia Championship Wrestling, even capturing the National Television Championship. Before long Eaton returned closer to home, working for promoter Jerry Jarrett's Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), which was centered in Memphis, Tennessee. During his early days in the promotion, Eaton faced Stan Lane several times in tag team competition. Eaton's most successful partnership in the CWA, in terms of title wins, was with Sweet Brown Sugar, named "the New Wave".^[8] The two wrestlers blended their athleticism and high flying abilities to form a very successful team. The New Wave held the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship three times (twice with manager Jimmy Hart in their corner).^[10]

After achieving success as a tag team, it was decided that Eaton and Sugar should split up and feud with each other. This storyline resulted in Eaton "forcing" Sugar out of the promotion via a Loser Leaves Town match.^[16][17] Sugar's disappearance was soon followed by the appearance of a masked man called Stagger Lee, who was virtually identically to Sugar. Eaton, along with the rest of Jimmy Hart's stable "the First Family", tried in vain to unmask Stagger Lee.^[16]

Eaton turned face when Lee saved him from an attack by The Moondogs, and the team reunited, although Sugar continued to use the Stagger Lee gimmick.^[16] The team regained the tag team title before losing it to The Fabulous Ones (Stan Lane and Steve Keirn).^[10] Afterward, Eaton teamed up with The Moondogs (Rex and Spot) to face Jerry Lawler and the Fabulous Ones. During the match, one of the Moondogs accidentally hit Eaton with their trademark bone, costing their side the match. After the match ended, the Moondogs, as well as Jimmy Hart, turned on Eaton, beating him down until he was saved by Stagger Lee.^[18]

Mid-South Wrestling (1983–1985)

Soon after Eaton joined Mid-South Wrestling under promoter Bill Watts, he became part of the Midnight Express. Eaton teamed with former rival Dennis Condrey under the management of Jim Cornette to form a new version of the tag team. The Express had previously been a group of wrestlers consisting of Condrey, Randy Rose and Norvell Austin, but with Eaton's arrival, the Midnight Express worked exclusively as a two-man team.^[9] To complement the nickname "Lover Boy" Dennis, Eaton was nicknamed "Beautiful" Bobby (a reference to the phrase "Alabama the Beautiful").^[3] At first, The Express was booked in an angle with the Mid-South Tag Team Champions Magnum T. A. and Mr. Wrestling II. The highlight of the angle saw Eaton and Condrey tarring and feathering Magnum T. A. in the middle of the ring. The Express first won the tag team title when Mr. Wrestling II turned on Magnum T. A., attacking him during the title match and allowing Eaton and Condrey to win the title without much opposition.^[10]

With Mr. Wrestling II and Magnum T. A. splitting up, the Midnight Express needed a new team to defend their newly won title against. They began a long series of matches against The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) which ran well into the 1990s and spanned several wrestling promotions.^[9] The two teams feuded throughout 1984 in Mid-South Wrestling before the Midnight Express left the promotion. The Midnight Express versus Rock 'n' Roll Express series of matches were so well received by the fans that independent promoters continued to book them over a span of three decades and concluded with them wrestling the final match of the feud; Eaton against Ricky Morton. Morton won the match.^[19]

World Class Championship Wrestling (1984–1985)

From December 1984 to June 1985, The Midnight Express had a short stay in World Class Championship Wrestling in Texas, where they feuded mainly with The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers).^[20]

Jim Crockett Promotions / World Championship Wrestling (1985–1992)

Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1993)

When Eaton found himself without a job, he reached out to former manager Jim Cornette. Cornette had started his own wrestling promotion, Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), and welcomed Eaton with open arms. Eaton joined up with the Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane and Tom Prichard), and the three were booked as the company's top heels for a while. Eaton also won the SMW version of the TV title, known as the SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship.^[8][10]

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1993, 1994, 1995)

Eaton first toured through Japan with New Japan Pro-Wrestling in May 1993 during their Explosion Tour, teaming with Tony Halme and in various tag team matches, facing teams such as Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh, Manabu Nakanishi and Masa Saito, Shinya Hashimoto and Michiyoshi Ohara, Riki Choshu and Takayuki Iizuka and even Hawk Warrior and Power Warrior, known as the Hellraisers, with the latter putting their IWGP Tag Team Championships on the line on June 14, in which Eaton and Halme lost. In January 1994, Eaton went back to Japan during their Fighting Spirit tour, wrestling only in tag team matches (with the exception of a singles match against Black Cat and another against Power Warrior) teaming with Rambo and Mike Enos. In November 1995 during their NJPW/WCW World in Japan tour, Eaton, now under the "Earl Robert Eaton" character, toured with New Japan for the last time, wrestling only two tag team matches in two days, teaming with Johnny B. Badd (the announcers mistakingly and constantly referred him as Bobby instead of Robert) in a losing effort against the Ookami Gundan (Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan) and another losing effort alongside Lord Steven Regal against Kensuke Sasaki and Osamu Nishimura.^[28]

Return to WCW (1993–2000)

Late career (2000–2016)

After his release from WCW, Eaton began working in the independent circuit. In July 2000, he made a brief return to ECW.^[37] By November 2000, he mainly wrestled for NWA Mid-Atlantic where he feuded with Ricky Morton.^[38] In January 2001, Eaton signed with the World Wrestling Federation as a trainer for their developmental territories.^[39] In February 2001, he went to the WWF's Memphis developmental system, Power Pro Wrestling, where he aligned himself with Brandon Baxter and Victoria against Bill Dundee, Jerry Lawler and The Kat.^[40] However, the intense feud was cut short, as a month later, WWF cut ties with Power Pro, due to Lawler quitting the promotion over the Kat's firing in late February.^[41][42] Power Pro would eventually fold and Eaton moved on to Louisville for Ohio Valley Wrestling. He would also go to Cincinnati for Heartland Wrestling Association, most notably appearing on the 2001 Brian Pillman Memorial Show. Accompanied by Cornette, he wrestled Terry Taylor in a Legends match with Ricky Steamboat as the special guest referee.^[43] Eventually, Eaton would be released in 2002.^[44]

After his WWF release, Eaton returned to the independents, returning to NWA Mid-Atlantic and also wrestled for IWA Mid-South. Eaton made a one-night only appearance for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) on August 13, 2003, as a part of a Kid Kash storyline where Kash faced off against a series of 1980s wrestling stars such as Larry Zbyszko and Ricky Morton.^[45] Eaton lost to Kid Kash in his only TNA appearance.^[46]

In 2003, Eaton formed a new version of the Midnight Express with Rikki Nelson,^[47] whom he previously teamed with in 2000.^[38] This Midnight Express version was very short-lived, and Eaton instead began touring with Dennis Condrey (and sometimes Stan Lane) as the Midnight Express in 2004.^[48][49] This version of the Midnight Express performed together on select independent wrestling cards in the United States until 2011 when Condrey worked his last match.^[50] On October 23, 2015, Eaton wrestled one of the final matches of his nearly 40-year career, losing to Ricky Morton, also ending the 30-plus year feud between The Rock 'n' Roll Express and The Midnight Express.^[51] Eaton wrestled his last match on March 19, 2016 of his nearly 40-year career, competed in a 15 man battle royal won by PoPo Da Klown at RWC Seek 2 Destroy Cancer in Fayetteville, North Carolina.^[52]

Reputation

Eaton was often regarded as one of the nicest people in the wrestling business, even though he wrestled as a heel for a majority of his career.^[62] In his 1999 book Have a Nice Day, Mick Foley praised Eaton as being one of the most underrated superstars in the business, and its nicest, commenting: "It was damn near impossible to pay for anything with Bobby around, though I will confess to not trying that hard."^[63] Jim Cornette and Sean Waltman noted that Eaton would regularly travel with an extra suitcase filled with toiletries, socks, and other oft-forgotten items that he would give to anyone who needed them, which Steve Austin recalled in his 2001 autobiography The Stone Cold Truth.^[64]

Family

Eaton was married to Bill Dundee's daughter Donna (born October 2, 1963).^[62] When they first started dating, they had to keep the relationship secret from her father, as her father had forbidden her from dating the wrestlers he was booking. When Dundee found out she was dating Eaton, he relented because Eaton was such a nice man.^[3] Married in 1981, Eaton and Donna had four children: Jason (born 1982), Dustin (born 1984), Taryn (born 1986), and Dylan (born 1988); Dylan is also a professional wrestler.^[3][65]

Donna died on June 26, 2021, at the age of 57 from breast cancer.^[66]

Health issues

In September 2006, it was reported that Eaton was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack.^[67] Eaton later released a statement saying that he did not have a heart attack, but was instead diagnosed with high blood pressure with "a hint of" diabetes.^[68] After that, he suffered with several health issues, especially cardiac problems which saw him hospitalized on several occasions.^[69][70][71] In June 2013, Eaton underwent successful surgery to have a pacemaker inserted.^[72] On July 24, 2021, it was reported that Eaton suffered a fall at his home in Nashville, breaking several fingers and injuring his hip.^[73]

Death

On August 4, 2021, just over a month after his wife's death, and 10 days prior to his own 63th birthday, Eaton died in his sleep at his home in Nashville, Tennessee. He was found dead by his daughter Taryn, who had recently moved in with him to monitor his health.^[74]

A memorial service for Eaton was held on August 24 in Antioch, Tennessee. Numerous family as well as wrestlers from numerous promotions gathered. Charles Robinson, Stan Lane, Tom Pritchard, Jim Cornette, and Arn Anderson as well as Eaton’s father in law Bill Dundee were among the notable people in attendance.