WWE Hall Of Famer Mike Rotunda On Forming The US Express With Barry Windham

Mike Rotunda has recalled how he and Barry Windham formed The US Express, and also how they ended up in WWE.

Rotunda, during his recent appearance on "Stories With Brisco And Bradshaw," praised Windham's wrestling ability and also remembered how the duo got together during their time in Championship Wrestling from Florida.

"Dusty [Rhodes] called and said, 'We need a young babyface in Florida.' So the Crocketts sent me down there and that's where I teamed up with Barry," said Rotunda. "Barry was great. I learned a lot from Barry. As young as he was, he was pretty experienced. Dusty would go about five minutes and we'd go about 45 minutes every night in Tampa."

He stated that he and Barry Windham eventually wound up in WWE after being contacted by then WWE booker George Scott, who offered them a huge raise.

"What happened is Dusty left Florida and went up to the Carolinas, but we got up there, we moved everybody up there and we weren't making any money. So George Scott was the booker for the WWE at the time, so I guess [Blackjack] Mulligan talked to George Scott and we went from making 400 bucks a week to making five grand a week. So you can't really blame somebody for going there," argued Rotunda. "When Barry and I first went there, we were like this young, raring to go tag team, and knock on wood, it got over. It was exciting and that's basically how it worked out. We went there and had an opportunity and we took it and ended up being in the first WrestleMania and stuff like that, which was another great learning experience."

The US Express had brief runs in WWE in the '80s and the duo even wrestled in Japan, before having a few reunions over the years. During their WWE run, they held the tag team titles on two occasions. The US Express were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2024.