The Rock 'n' Roll Express to Be Inducted into WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2017

WWE announced Monday the Rock 'n' Roll Express will join the 2017 Hall of Fame class. 

"It was a surprise," Ricky Morton said when WWE told him about the Rock 'n' Roll Express' induction, per CBSSports.com's Denny Burkholder. "I had a message on my phone [from WWE] to call the number back. I think they got ahold of Robert at the time. When they called, it was just like a sucker punch. It just knocked us off our feet."

Morton and Robert Gibson combined to form one of the most legendary tag teams in wrestling history. The Rock 'n' Roll Express helped anchor the National Wrestling Alliance's tag division in the 1980s.

Over the years, they perfected the blueprint for how to work the crowd as a face tag team.

The more technically proficient of the two, Morton would spend his time in the ring getting worked over by opponents. The longer he'd get beaten, the more the fans would clamor for Morton to make the tag. Once he finally tagged Gibson, the roof of the arena would explode, and Gibson would lay waste to the other team.

The Rock 'n' Roll Express were perfect foils for heel tag teams such as the Midnight Express and Four Horseman in NWA. The Midnight Express were arguably their most heated rivals, and their feud required a scaffold match at Starrcade 1987 to resolve the bad blood.

To see the Rock 'n' Roll Express' influence on today's tag team wrestling, look no further than American Alpha, particularly when they feuded with The Revival and The Authors of Pain in NXT. Gable played the role of Morton while Jordan waited anxiously on the apron to get involved, a la Gibson.

The Rock 'n' Roll Express' induction comes as little surprise, and the only question is why it took so long for WWE to give them their Hall of Fame due.