Friday, January 07, 2022

Poster: Newcomer Roddy Piper battles area stalwart Paul Jones at the Spindale House

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
 
The Spindale House in Spindale, NC was a familiar stop for Crockett Promotions in the 1960s and 1970s. Unfortunately for local wrestling fans it all ended abruptly on the Friday night, June 5th, 1981 when Roddy Piper incited a full blown riot at the venue. Piper never had a problem drawing heat but this must have been something on a totally different level as the riot resulted in professional wrestling being banned in Spindale.


This poster promotes that infamous card in Spindale with a main event of Paul Jones versus Piper. The Mid-Atlantic Tag Team belts were on the line in the semi with champions Johnny Weaver and Dewey Robertson versus Mr. Fuji and El Torro while the undercard included Mike Reed, Ron Ritchie, Frank Monte, Charlie Fulton, and women wrestlers Suzette Ferreira and Angie Minelli.

With a vertical layout, the poster has all black print on an orange background along with images of Jones and Piper beside their match listing.

Nice details to note - it also lets us know that the event is sponsored by the Forest City Jaycees and you can buy your tickets at Bill's Auto Glass Shop and at Northwestern Bank locations in Forest City, Spindale, and Rutherfordton.

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Gateway Notes: 

Lots of action in and around the entire 4-state Mid-Atlantic area that Friday night in addition to the Spindale show, including the regular Friday night card in Richmond, VA (Ric Flair vs. Ivan Koloff, Anderson Bros. vs. Leroy Brown and Jay Youngblood), Charleston, SC (Masked Superstar  and Mr. Wrestling 2 vs. Austin Idol and "Prince" Jimmy Valiant, and the affiliated Knoxville, TN (Blackjack Mulligan vs. The Iron Sheik, Mulligan Jr. vs. Mongolian Stomper.)  

Odd to see Piper headlining this show against Paul Jones. Piper was United States champion at the time, but is not billed on the poster as champion. It isn't clear if this was a title defense or not. Piper was in the latter stages of a very heated feud with Ric Flair, who he defeated for that title back in late January of that same year. Jones had been more upper-middle-card during this time, although he and Wahoo McDaniel had reformed their team and were chasing the Anderson Brothers for the NWA World Tag team titles, daja-vu from their legendary feud in 1976.

 NO. 22 IN A SERIES