WCW Greed

Greed
Promotional poster featuring Scott Steiner
Promotion World Championship Wrestling
Date March 18, 2001
City Jacksonville, Florida
Venue Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum
Attendance 5,030[1]
Tagline(s) It's All or Nothin' Baby
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous
SuperBrawl Revenge		 Next →
Final

Greed was the final professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It took place on March 18, 2001 from the Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida. Greed replaced the promotion's March PPV event Uncensored which was held from 1995 to 2000. The pay-per-view event took place three days before the final episode of Thunder and eight days before the final episode of Monday Nitro.

In 2014, all WCW pay-per-views were made available on the WWE Network.

Storylines

The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[2]

The main feud heading into Greed was between Scott Steiner and Diamond Dallas Page over the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. At SuperBrawl Revenge, Steiner defeated Kevin Nash in a Retirement match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship and Nash was forced to retire. On the following night’s episode of Monday Nitro, Steiner, alongside members of The Magnificent Seven, held a memorial service for Nash as well and listing down Superstars that Steiner defeated to retain his title. Steiner then revealed his next target to beat by revealing Kanyon out of a casket dressed as Diamond Dallas Page, with Kanyon having defeated Page at SuperBrawl Revenge the previous night. DDP then interrupted Steiner and accepted his challenge to a match at Greed with Steiner's title on the line. Later that night, DDP defeated Kanyon in a rematch before escaping through the crowd when Steiner attempted to attack him with a lead pipe.

Aftermath

On March 23, 2001, World Wrestling Federation (WWF) owner Vince McMahon purchased WCW, acquiring the company's assets including TV footage and some of the signed wrestlers’ contracts.

WCW's flagship show, Monday Nitro, aired its final episode on March 26, 2001. In that episode, Scott Steiner lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to Booker T, who also held the United States Heavyweight Championship at the time, making him a double champion. He would take the World Heavyweight Title to the WWF, where it was renamed the WCW Championship with Booker T as the inaugural champion.

Long time rivals Sting and Ric Flair faced each other for the last time in the main event of Nitro, in which Sting came out victorious after having Flair submit to the Scorpion Deathlock. After the match the two embraced, showing respect for one another.

Near the end of the episode, WWF owner Vince McMahon made his appearance in the ring to address the purchase of WCW. During McMahon's gloating, his son Shane McMahon appeared through Simulcast while the WWF's flagship show Raw is War was also live and revealed that he was the one who purchased WCW. This was part of a storyline between Vince and Shane McMahon that would lead up to the WWF's Invasion storyline. It also served to help build up their match at WrestleMania X-Seven where the two were scheduled for a street fight.

While the WWF may have acquired most of WCW wrestlers’ contracts, some wrestlers, like Sting, would not join the WWF immediately after WCW's closure due to refusing to join the promotion or waiting out until their contract with AOL Time Warner expired.

Sting, despite being WCW's mainstay and face of the company, would resist joining the WWF (later renamed World Wrestling Entertainment, WWE) despite many close agreements on joining the promotion. He would eventually join WWE in 2014, 13 years after WCW's closure and debuted during the promotion's Survivor Series event while at the age of 55.

Despite his contract being under WCW, Jeff Jarrett was fired by Vince McMahon upon his acquisition of WCW, having no interest in Jarrett. After WCW closed its doors, Jarrett, alongside his father Jerry Jarrett, would later find success as wrestling promoters after opening their own promotion, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. The promotion would bring a new generation of wrestlers that would later find their success in WWE while also gaining the attention of past WCW wrestlers like Sting and Scott Steiner.

Results

No. Results Stipulations Times
1 Jason Jett defeated Kwee Wee Singles match 12:17
2 Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo defeated The Filthy Animals (Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr.) Tag team match for the inaugural WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship 13:46
3 Shawn Stasiak (with Stacy Keibler) defeated Bam Bam Bigelow Singles match 05:55
4 Team Canada (Lance Storm and Mike Awesome) defeated Hugh Morrus and Konnan Tag team match 11:28
5 Shane Helms defeated Chavo Guerrero Jr. (c) Singles match for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship 13:57
6 The Natural Born Thrillers (Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire) (c) defeated Totally Buffed (Buff Bagwell and Lex Luger) Tag team match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship 00:54
7 Ernest Miller (with Ms. Jones) defeated Kanyon Singles match 10:31
8 Booker T defeated Rick Steiner (c) Singles match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship 07:31
9 Dustin Rhodes and Dusty Rhodes defeated Ric Flair and Jeff Jarrett Tag team match 09:58
10 Scott Steiner (c) (with Midajah) defeated Diamond Dallas Page by submission Falls Count Anywhere match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship 14:14
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

References

  1. ↑ "Greed". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
  2. ↑ Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
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