Episode 55: The Dennis Condrey Tribute Show

On Friday, March 20th, 2026, our Pro Wrestling Community lost one of the all time greats, Dennis Condrey of The Midnight Express, passed away at his home in Nirth Alabama at the age of 75. I don’t have to introduce this episode by telling you all about the attributes and wonderful talents of Dennis, by now you have undoubtedly heard and seen many wonderful tributes and salutes to his storied career, including the emotional delived by his partner\manager Jim Cornette and my own feature article on his life and career here in the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel. If you haven’t had a chance to read and review that piece, you can access it here. This show will be a retrospective of sorts with four different friends stopping by The Ranch today to talk about Dennis and what he meant to them. First of all, there’s Greg Anthony from Dyersburg, Tennessee, who runs wrestling shows each week in Dyersburg and Ripley at the building known as the Herb Welch Wrestleplex. Greg shares his connection to Dennis and how Dennis shaped his own life and career in the businsss. Then. there is my longtime frined, Michael St. John of Talking Memphis Wrestling, who also was a television announcer for Nick Gulas both in Nashville and Chattanooga, and Jerry Jarrett in Memphis. Michael was a co-worker with Dennis and also the recipient of one of Dennis’ famous ribs. Next, our Tennessee Historian and Analyst, Tim Dills will be here to document muct of Dennis’ career with Phil Hickerson as the Bicentennial Kings from 1975 to 1979 and we will also talk about his tag team with David Schultz and the infamous angle that was first done in Tennessee that later became famous in Mid-South Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions. Last, Ron Fuller the owner, promoter and booker of Southeastern Championship Wrestling will be here to visit about Dennis and Phil Hickerson in the Knoxville end of his promotion and the inception of The Original Midnight Express in the Pensacola Territory, the famous angle with Norvell Austin and the armstrong Family that made The Original Midnight Express a 3-Man team using the “Freebird” Rule. We are all set to pay our respects to Dennis Condrey today in a little longer show than usual, but Dennis deserves it! I think one of things that is special about our show giving respect to Dennis is that he was one of our own here in the Tennessee Territory.. He started here, became a star here and went out to achieve fame and fortune from here along with other hometown guys, Bobby Eaton and Jim Cornette as the greatest tag team of all time, The Midnight Express. I hope you enjoy today’s show in honor of Dennis Condrey. Chapters (00:00:02) - Podcast(00:00:34) - Dennis Condrey(00:04:31) - Dennis Condrey Tribute(00:05:45) - Herb Welch Remembering(00:11:10) - If You Had A Wrestling Memorabilia Box, What Would It Be(00:14:24) - Mid South Wrestling(00:16:49) - Wrestler Reveals He Almost Died Of Heart Disease(00:20:45) - How My Heart Got Stabilized(00:23:40) - Core Audience of WWE(00:27:53) - Jerry Briscoe on His WWE Success(00:30:35) - WWE 205 Live: Ultra Brawl(00:31:44) - inducting into Pro Wrestling Mid South Hall of Fame(00:32:38) - Greg Anthony on Dennis Condrey's Death(00:35:09) - Dennis Condre on His WWE Hall of Champions(00:38:08) - Dennis On An Healthy ego(00:41:14) - Michael St. John on His Connection With Dennis Condrey(00:44:51) - Michael St. John On The Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel(00:45:34) - Nick Goulas on Dennis Condrey(00:52:52) - Nick Gulas on Lost Shoes(00:57:41) - David Schultz on Dennis Angle(01:02:14) - Brock Lesnar Has The Best Look Of All Time(01:08:05) - Michael St. John on Dennis McGuirk's Death(01:11:58) - Memphis Wrestling on Talking Memphis(01:16:17) - Tony Jones on Jerry Jarrett's Last Match(01:18:51) - Tennessee Wrestling historian Tim Deals on Dennis Condrey(01:21:56) - Dennis Condrey On Working With Joe Turner In Oklahoma(01:26:48) - Southern Wrestling Legends on The Bicentennial Kings(01:34:47) - Bobby Roddy on The NWO(01:37:20) - Pile Driver Was Illegal in Tennessee(01:41:24) - The Dennis Condre/David Schultz Birthday Cake Angle(01:46:15) - Tennessee Angles(01:51:49) - The Midnight Express vs The Free Birds(01:57:51) - Norville Austin's Funeral(02:04:44) - Dennis Was Working For Everybody In 1980-1981(02:10:13) - Ron Fuller Talks To Dennis Condrey(02:13:44) - Ron Fuller on Working With Dennis Condrey(02:19:28) - How Randy Rose Got His Tag Team(02:25:26) - Dennis and Bob Norvell Driving Corvettes(02:30:20) - Roy Williams on His Three-Man(02:33:46) - Adam Levine on The Midnight Express Angle<