March 18, 2001 — Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, Florida

There is something strange about watching WCW Greed knowing what happened only days later.

On March 18, 2001, nobody watching was supposed to treat this as WCW’s final pay-per-view. There was still television scheduled, storylines were moving forward, younger wrestlers were finally being given meaningful opportunities, and WCW was clearly attempting to clean up some of the creative mess that had plagued the company throughout 1999 and 2000.

Instead, Greed became the final PPV in World Championship Wrestling history. Three days later came the final Thunder, and eight days after Greed, the final episode of Monday Nitro aired.

What makes Greed fascinating in retrospect is that it really isn’t the disaster you might expect from a dying wrestling company. There is some garbage on this card, absolutely, but there is also some genuinely good wrestling. The cruiserweights are excellent, several younger wrestlers are being pushed, Booker T is back in an important position, and Scott Steiner and Diamond Dallas Page deliver a main event worthy of closing a WCW pay-per-view.

It feels less like a company preparing to die and more like one that was finally starting to figure a few things out.

Jason Jett vs. Kwee Wee

Winner: Jason Jett — 12:17

This is a surprisingly strong choice for an opener.

Jason Jett, formerly EZ Money in ECW, had only recently arrived in WCW, while Kwee Wee had spent most of his WCW run stuck with a gimmick that made it difficult to take him seriously. Once the bell rings, though, they forget about all of that and simply have a wrestling match. And it’s a pretty damn good one. The pace is immediately quicker than what you’d normally expect from a WCW heavyweight match during this period. Jett looks particularly impressive. He’s athletic, smooth and has enough unusual offense that the crowd gradually starts buying into him despite not having much reason to care when the match begins. Kwee Wee deserves credit as well. He keeps up with Jett and gives him enough offense that this doesn’t feel like an extended squash designed solely to introduce the new guy. There are a few rough transitions, and occasionally they’re doing moves because they look impressive rather than because the match really calls for them. But that’s hardly a major complaint. For an opening match between two wrestlers who weren’t anywhere near the top of the card, they worked extremely hard. Jett gets the victory after the Crash Landing. It’s actually a little depressing in hindsight because Jett looked like someone WCW could have developed into a useful part of its cruiserweight or television-title scene. Instead, the company essentially disappeared before he ever received that opportunity.

Rating: ★★★½

WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship Tournament Final

Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo vs. Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio Jr.

Winners and inaugural champions: Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo — 13:46

Here’s WCW doing something it should have done years earlier. Take four talented cruiserweights, give them around fourteen minutes, put a championship on the line and let them go. Not complicated. The Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship itself might have been unnecessary considering WCW already had a crowded championship scene, but the concept had potential. WCW had enough smaller wrestlers to make an entire tag division work, and it would have given guys who weren’t challenging for the Cruiserweight Championship something meaningful to do. The match is exactly what you want from these four. Kidman and Mysterio are naturally excellent together. Rey is Rey, seemingly incapable of being anything other than spectacular during this era, while Kidman is one of the most dependable wrestlers WCW had left. Skipper and Romeo aren’t as polished, but that’s actually part of what makes this work. They’re hungry. Everything feels like they’re trying to prove that they belong on the same level as Kidman and Mysterio. Once they get through the opening portion, the match becomes increasingly frantic. Tags come quickly, bodies start flying everywhere, saves become increasingly desperate and the crowd gets progressively louder. There’s also something refreshing about WCW allowing the newer team to actually win. Romeo pins Mysterio and he and Skipper become the first WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Champions. That’s exactly the kind of booking WCW desperately needed at this point: established stars helping create new ones.

Rating: ★★★★

Shawn Stasiak vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Winner: Shawn Stasiak — 5:55

WCW was trying to do something with Shawn Stasiak at this point, and pairing him with Stacy Keibler certainly wasn’t going to hurt him. He had the look, size and athletic ability that made you understand why promoters kept seeing potential. The problem was that Stasiak still didn’t feel like somebody you desperately wanted to see pushed. Bam Bam Bigelow does most of the heavy lifting here. Stasiak stalls, Stacy gets involved, Bigelow throws him around for a while and eventually the finish comes when Stacy helps Stasiak get access to a spray can. Stasiak sprays Bigelow in the eyes and follows with his finisher for the victory. It’s basic heel booking and accomplishes the goal of giving Stasiak a win without having Bigelow lose cleanly. Bigelow sucks.

Rating: ★¼

Team Canada: Lance Storm & Mike Awesome vs. Konnan & Hugh Morrus

Winners: Lance Storm & Mike Awesome — 11:28

On paper, this should be pretty good. Lance Storm was one of the most technically reliable wrestlers WCW had. Mike Awesome could do things that someone his size had no business doing. Konnan was enormously popular with WCW crowds, and Hugh Morrus was perfectly capable of having a solid match when paired with the right opponents. Somehow, the whole thing never really clicks. It’s not bad wrestling. That’s the frustrating part. Everybody is competent. Storm is smooth, Awesome provides the power, and the babyfaces get enough offense to keep the crowd involved. But it feels like four wrestlers performing a television tag match rather than four wrestlers trying to steal a pay-per-view. Awesome eventually puts Morrus away. The right team wins, particularly since Storm and Awesome had considerably more upside as a regular tag team. Still, this should have been better.

Rating: ★★¼

WCW Cruiserweight Championship

Chavo Guerrero (c) vs. Shane Helms

Winner and NEW Cruiserweight Champion: Shane Helms — 13:57

Shane Helms had been quietly developing into one of WCW’s breakout performers during the final months of the company, and this feels like the moment where they finally pull the trigger. Chavo Guerrero is the perfect opponent. Chavo is so fundamentally sound that he doesn’t need to dominate the match with flashy offense. Instead, he slows Helms down, cuts him off and forces Shane to earn his opportunities. That gives the match an actual structure instead of becoming another cruiserweight exhibition where everybody trades increasingly ridiculous moves. Helms brings the athleticism while Chavo provides the foundation. As the match progresses, you can feel the crowd getting behind Shane more and more. That makes the championship victory feel meaningful instead of simply being another random WCW title change. Helms eventually gets the victory and captures the Cruiserweight Championship. In hindsight, it’s another example of why WCW’s death is frustrating. Helms was clearly becoming something. There was an entire generation of younger WCW talent that was finally getting opportunities just as the company disappeared.

Rating: ★★★½

WCW World Tag Team Championship

Sean O’Haire & Chuck Palumbo (c) vs. Lex Luger & Buff Bagwell

Winners: Sean O’Haire & Chuck Palumbo — 0:54

Yes.

Fifty-four seconds… what the fuck? It worked, I guess? O’Haire and Palumbo essentially destroy Luger and Bagwell. There’s barely enough time to call this a match. Buff accidentally gets nailed by Luger, Palumbo connects with the Jungle Kick, O’Haire hits the Seanton Bomb and the champions decisively retain. From a pure wrestling standpoint, there’s nothing to rate. From a booking standpoint? I love it. Sean O’Haire in particular looked like someone WCW could build around. He was huge, athletic, had a fantastic look and could do things men his size weren’t normally doing in 2001. Instead of giving Luger and Bagwell fifteen minutes and protecting everybody, WCW has the younger champions wipe them out. More of this five years earlier might have helped.

Rating: ★★★★½

Ernest Miller vs. chris Kanyon

Winner: Ernest Miller — 10:31

Kanyon might have been one of the most underrated wrestlers WCW ever had. He could wrestle almost anyone, work almost any style and somehow come up with offense you hadn’t seen before. Unfortunately, he’s wrestling The Cat. I actually enjoy Ernest Miller as a personality. He’s entertaining, charismatic and understands exactly how ridiculous his character is supposed to be. But ten minutes is asking a lot. Kanyon does everything possible to keep things interesting, bumping around for Miller and controlling most of the actual wrestling. The Cat provides the personality and crowd interaction. Eventually Miller gets the victory. Afterward, Kanyon attacks him and goes after Ms. Jones before M.I. Smooth makes the save. It’s harmless. That’s also about the strongest praise available.

Rating: ★★

WCW United States Championship

Rick Steiner (c) vs. Booker T

Winner and NEW United States Champion: Booker T — 7:31

Booker T returning to championship contention is absolutely the correct decision. The match itself? Not particularly good. Rick Steiner’s style had become increasingly ugly by this point. There’s a difference between wrestling stiff and simply making everything look awkward, and too much of Rick’s offense falls into the latter category. Booker tries. There’s energy whenever he’s on offense, and the crowd clearly recognizes him as one of WCW’s biggest remaining babyfaces. But seven and a half minutes doesn’t give them enough time to develop much, and Rick isn’t exactly the opponent you’d choose if your goal was giving Booker an outstanding comeback match. Thankfully, WCW gets the important part right. Booker wins the United States Championship. The belt immediately feels more important around Booker’s waist, and it also positions him back near the top of the card. Eight days later, Booker would walk into the final Nitro as United States Champion and ultimately leave WCW holding both the U.S. and World Heavyweight Championships.

Rating: ★★

Dusty Rhodes & Dustin Rhodes vs. Ric Flair & Jeff Jarrett

Winners: Dusty Rhodes & Dustin Rhodes — 9:58

There is absolutely no reason this should be as entertaining as it is. Dusty Rhodes is 55 years old. Ric Flair is 52. And the crowd loves every second they’re together. That’s wrestling. Dusty doesn’t need moonsaults or twenty-minute technical sequences. He throws an elbow and the building reacts more than it does for half the spectacular moves performed earlier in the show. Flair understands exactly how to work with him. Every facial expression, every bump, every reaction makes Dusty look larger than life. Meanwhile Dustin and Jarrett handle most of the actual wrestling, which keeps the match moving. It’s smartly constructed. Nobody asks Dusty to do anything he can’t do. Instead, they build anticipation for his tags and let him hit the recognizable Dusty offense when the crowd wants it. The Rhodes family eventually gets the victory. Then we get Dusty celebrating in a manner only Dusty Rhodes could possibly consider appropriate. It’s ridiculous and stupid, but kept myself and the crowd entertained.

Rating: ★★★

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Falls Count Anywhere

Scott Steiner (c) vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Winner: Scott Steiner — 14:14

The final match in WCW pay-per-view history. If WCW had to unknowingly close its PPV history with one match, Scott Steiner versus Diamond Dallas Page isn’t a bad choice. Steiner was completely insane during this period — and I mean that as a compliment. He looked terrifying. He talked like a lunatic. He wrestled like he wanted to hurt somebody. And unlike many of WCW’s failed attempts at creating new main-event stars, Big Poppa Pump actually felt like the world champion. DDP is the perfect opponent because Page has always been at his best when a match feels like a fight. They don’t try to have a pretty wrestling match. They beat the hell out of each other. Page gets busted open, the fight spills outside the ring and the Falls Count Anywhere stipulation allows everything to become increasingly chaotic. DDP sells the beating beautifully. The blood helps enormously because Steiner feels like a monster while Page becomes the stubborn veteran who simply refuses to stay down. Rick Steiner eventually gets involved, giving Scott the advantage. Page continues fighting, but eventually he’s trapped in the Steiner Recliner. There’s no miraculous comeback. No Diamond Cutter followed by a dramatic title change. DDP simply can’t continue. Scott Steiner retains the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. And that’s it. The final bell of the final match on the final WCW pay-per-view.

Rating: ★★★¾

You can watch the full event on the official WCW YouTube page.