Gaffney Mat Chronicles Volume 5: The Art of Tag Team Wrestling

Tag Team Wrestling...it's good!!! If someone has to say it, allow me to be the first. Ever since the back half of last year, where Brodido were a big shot in the arm to AEW's tag division and especially off the back of what was an excellent NJPW World Tag League, this is probably the most I've enjoyed present-day tag wrestling in quite some time. While most of that credit can probably go to New Japan, there's some really good stuff across the map this year so far. FTR vs. the Young Bucks from Revolution is probably the best of the bunch so far in 2026, but there was very recently a Joshi tag that main evented Sareee-ISM Chapter X that I don't think was super far off, and in light of the tragic passing of Midnight Express founding member Dennis Condry two weeks ago, we'll be going over said Sareee-ISM tag, as well as one of the more famed clashes between the Midnight Express and Rock n' Roll Express from the summer of 1986.

The Midnight Express (Dennis Condry and Bobby Eaton) w/Jim Cornette vs. the Rock 'n Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) for the NWA World Tag Team Championships (Jim Crockett Promotions, Philadelphia, PA, 8/16/86)

The Midnight Express' catalog (more so Eaton and Condry than Eaton and Lane) is a bit of a blind spot for me outside of a handful of matches. Fortunately, I'd been searching for this bout—uploaded to YouTube only weeks ago for several months now: a 2-out-of-3 falls match at the old Philadelphia Civic Center. This marked the end of Condry and Eaton's only NWA World Tag Title reign and the last time they'd hold gold together for nearly two decades, losing in what was their 18th (!!!) 2-out-of-3 falls encounter against Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton in under 200 days.

In any case, it's hard to overstate just how disgustingly over the Rock n' Roll Express are here in Philly, and really just the mid/late 80s in general. Some of the reactions they generate in this match genuinely feel fake at times. The feel-out process here with Eaton and Morton is highlighted with Eaton on the back foot, but getting himself some reprieve by sticking in the corner by Condry, who's feeding him some last-minute words until Eaton flips momentum with a cheap shot in the corner before tagging out. That momentum shift is short-lived, though, as Morton leapfrogs over Eaton, who collides into Condry, who then has a both hilarious and awesome sell of an atomic drop, running straight into the near-right side turnbuckle at full speed and acting like he broke his nose. Tremendous stuff.

After that, things stall out for a few minutes. Both teams trade isolation limb work in their respective corners with quick tags, which leads to a Gibson roll-up of Eaton for the first fall, off an Irish Whip that Condry just misses breaking up. I’m a big fan of how they worked to that; I will always be a fan of a well-executed roll up in a multi-fall match, especially as the icebreaker.

Equally good, or better, is how they tie it 1-1. The Midnights start the next fall on the back foot, then find an opening when the ref admonishes Morton for staying in too long. That lets Eaton pull down the top rope on Gibson, and from here, the Midnights target Gibson's back. Condry drags him back in and evens the score with a pair of backbreakers.

Then we get to the part of the match where, at least looking back through a modern lens, you can say they left some money on the table. After the Midnights begin the final fall, working over Gibson and his back, they hit an assisted frog splash to the back of Gibson. A legitimately great spot, but Eaton tags out after the splash, then Condry has to go to the opposite end of the ring for the pin, which is both broken up by Morton, while Gibson puts his foot on the rope.

Then they essentially run this back with a top rope elbow drop by Eaton, just with the pin happening over on the Midnights' side of the ring. Either one of those could’ve led to picture-perfect near-fall spots, but I’ll chalk that up to the era if nothing else. At the very least, this does lead into one of the hottest hot tags I've seen in a minute for Morton, who begins to clean house before the Midnights take advantage of the ref going after Gibson.

With some confusion about who’s legal for the Midnight Express, what happens next is honestly a novel concept I wish were a bit more commonplace nowadays. Gibson breaks up a pin by Eaton and has to explain, exclaim even, to him that he isn't the legal man, and the referee takes a second to essentially go, "Yeah, that's right," before kicking Eaton out. Condry gets in, hits a knee to the back of an unsuspecting Morton, who hits the floor through the second rope, but gets the last laugh on Condry by rolling him up on an outside-in suplex attempt for the win. When I say that the ENITRE arena jumps up as one as the three hits, take me at face value. Outside of the high spots from Eaton not capitalizing as well as they should have, this was awesome. I mean, it's the Midnight Express vs. the Rock n' Roll Express, how could it not be?

The Gaffney Rating: 4.25 Stars

Link to Match

SparkRush (Sareee and Takumi Iroha) vs. Chihiro Hashimoto and Syuri (Sareee-ism Chapter X, 3/22/26)

From the glory days of Jim Crockett Promotions in Philly to the opposite end of the world in the Yokohama Budokan for Saree-ism's 10th Chapter, we go for what's as star-studded a tag match as there's been in 2026. Sareee, Big Hash, and Syuri might be the three best Joshis going in Japan right now, but the real novelty for this match was the chance to see Takumi Iroha for the first time. Her accomplishments in her 12-year career are pretty extensive, ranging from being the current two-time AAAW Champion (Marvelous Women's Pro), a former GHC Women's Champion, West Coast Pro Women's Champion, and one-time Artist of Stardom Champion, alongside, checks notes, Io Shirai and Mayu Iwatani back in late 2014-early 2015. She's tagged with Sareee in the past (mainly in 2018 and 2019), but the two have been a semi-regular unit in Japan since May of last year as SparkRush, primarily in Marvelous.

Outside of this match probably being 3-5 minutes too long at the max, this is as great an "All-Star" tag outing as I've seen in some time. Some excellent pacing right out of the gates with Syuri and Sareee mixing it up on the mat before they quite literally roll to the outside, and then opt to tag out after grabbing a fistful of each other's hair in the middle of the ring. After which, this one gets physical and physical fast when Big Hash and Iroha get in, and that can apply to everything else after the fact as well.

This is definitely a "moves" match. Given the standing of all four women, especially with the level of striking, it works and doesn't overstay its welcome. Big Hash countered an Iroha superkick into an ankle lock, which popped me huge. Later on, Syuri hit a wrist-control superplex on Iroha and fluidly transitioned into a submission on the mat. There was also a sharp double-team dropkick into a German suplex by Hash and Syuri on Sareee. It rocked. The spear and powerbomb Big Hash gave Sareee soon after were impressive. Did I also mention that Sareee and Big Hash also ran the closest thing to an Oklahoma drill in this match, and that Iroha simply kicks really, really hard?

After a quadruple down and a well-deserved breather, I liked Sareee and Iroha going for a dual high spot. Sareee hit a splash, and Iroha did a Swanton from opposite posts, after the pair had crashed and burned five minutes earlier, especially Iroha. Not long after, the match came to a close with Sareee and Big Hash going all out and emptying the tank against each other. After what felt like a never-ending barrage of wrist-clutch uranages and a no-sell of a Hashimoto German suplex, Sareee picked up the win just over the 23-minute mark.

Even though this match went a bit long for my taste, it was as good an All-Star tag match as you could hope for, given everyone involved. No one hurts their standing coming out of this one. Chihiro Hashimoto might be the best in the world right now. Sareee and Syuri both delivered as expected. While this match wasn't about Takumi Iroha, she made a strong first impression, and I hope to see more of her from here on out. Very good wrestler; very good match, and by the sounds of it, SparkRush pulled off another tag match with rave reviews at TJPW's Grand Princess just last weekend against the great Miyu Yamashita and Arisu Endo.

The Gaffney Rating: 4.5 Stars