text: Despite lasting nearly 40 minutes in the Royal Rumble, Holly made very few television appearances in the WWF throughout 1996 and 1997. In 1997 he scored two victories over Owen Hart on May 19 episode of Raw by pinfall and Brian Pillman on August 4 episode of Raw by countout. Afterwards, Holly was inactive during the rest of 1997 and temporarily went back to welding.
  The Midnight Express and The J.O.B. Squad (1998–1999)
  In February 1998, he returned after six month hiatus with a newly blonde hair and Bart Gunn joined forces with Jim Cornette as part of Jeff Jarrett's National Wrestling Alliance stable. Holly, renamed "Bombastic Bob", and Gunn, renamed "Bodacious Bart" were known collectively as The Midnight Express. The Midnight Express defeated The Headbangers for the NWA World Tag Team Championship on March 30, 1998 and held the titles until August 14 of that year, when they were defeated by The Border Patrol. They challenged the New Age Outlaws for the World Tag Team Championship at the King of the Ring pay-per-view, but were unsuccessful.
  In mid-1998, Holly competed in the WWF Brawl for All, a 16-man shootfighting tournament. He was eliminated in the first round by the eventual winner, Bart Gunn, who defeated him on points; Holly has the distinction of being the only one of Gunn's opponents he was unable to knock out. They disbanded in July and Holly went on his own working in lower card matches on Shotgun Saturday Night.