Poster: Flair and Steamboat battle in "Mt. Pilot"

by Brack Beasley
Mid-Atlantic Gateway Contributor

I spent most of my early years in Pilot Mountain, NC. It's a quaint little town at the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains referred to as "Mt. Pilot" on The Andy Griffith Show. This spot show took place on Saturday night April 8th, 1978 in the East Surry High School gym in Pilot Mountain and featured one of the greatest rivalries, if not the greatest, in the history of professional wrestling - Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat.

Many say that one-on-one in their prime, nobody did it better. Despite attending this show, I have very little recollection of the details of this match or who even won but hey - - I was only 10 years old.

Nevertheless, on the very next day, Flair would defeat Tim "Mr. Wrestling" Woods for the United States Heavyweight title in Charlotte, NC, beginning his second reign as U.S. champ. Johnny Weaver and Baron Von Raschke continued to battle for the TV title belt and the mid-card tag team match featured Crusher Blackwell and Bill White vs. Swede Hanson and Don Kernodle.

The poster has a vertical layout with all black print on a bright orange background which works well with the images of Flair, Steamboat, and Weaver along with "Sponsored by the Pilot Mountain Jaycees" and the local businesses that sold tickets at the top, typically seen on spot show posters.

Nowadays Pilot Mountain is known for it's summertime classic car cruise-ins but in the 1970s the Jaycees brought the stars of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling to town on a fairly regular basis.

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