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Kevin’s Random Reviews: WCW Greed 2001

July 27, 2018 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
WCW Greed 2001
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Kevin’s Random Reviews: WCW Greed 2001  

WCW Greed
March 18th, 2001 | Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida | Attendance: 5,030

It’s the end of the road for WCW Pay-Per-Views. After some of the highest highs, all sorts of problems brought things crashing down for WCW, and this would be their final PPV ever. It’s wild to see how far and fast WCW fell, but I remember not hating their final few months, so this will be interesting to see. It was the first and only Greed even ever.

The opening video package focused on DDP vs. Scott Steiner. Tony Schiavone and Scott Hudson were on commentary.

Jason Jett vs. Kwee-Wee
This was billed as an unscheduled match. Jett was formerly EZ Money in ECW. Apparently, he debuted a few days earlier and already found himself on PPV. This was a fast-paced opener, with Jett showcasing some cool offense. For example, while outside, Jett was back dropped into the ropes, which he rebounded off into a DDT. Great move. He also took a wild bump when thrown over the ring post. Kwee-Wee got his mean streak going to turn the tide and show off some of his own fine offense. The fans were into this, chanting “Kwee-Wee sucks” and doing so loudly. They lifted a classic EZ Money/Kid Kash super rana spot, though it wasn’t as clean with Kwee-Wee. Jett used a bit of playing possum to score a win with the Crash Landing (explex) in 12:17. They got a lot of time and did well with it. The crowd was invested and they showed off some great offense. Jett seemed miscast as a face, though, not garnering a lot of sympathy. [***¼]

WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship Tournament Finals: Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo
These teams came out with the idea of stealing the show with tons of high spots. From the opening bell, they brought big offense and a crazy fast pace. The match quickly got out of hand and all four men fought to the stage, where Kidman and Mysterio performed great stereo dives. Back to the ring and Kidman got isolated. He got in a few hope spots, but was kept at bay. Kidman finally broke free with a great avalanche sitout powerbomb. Rey’s hot tag was dynamite and full of energy. Plus, he crowd still dug him after all the bad booking he went through in WCW. From there, we got a bunch of dives and even higher impact stuff from everyone involved. The finish came as a bit of a surprise. Romeo caught a Mysterio Asai moonsault and hit his Last Kiss finisher to become the first champions at 13:46. Possibly the last great WCW match. It was spotty, but a ton of fun. It’s the kind of match that feels like a blueprint for a lot of indy tags that came after it. Great stuff. [****]

There was an awkward dance party of sorts by the new champions.

Buff Bagwell brought a camera with him to film a documentary on the Magnificent Seven. Scott Steiner had a separate dressing room due to paranoia following some attacks.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Shawn Stasiak w/ Stacy Keibler
Stacy and Stasiak got some promo time to try and put over the “Shawn and Stacy Show.” Stasiak regrouped early and got to cuddle with Stacy for a bit. Not bad. Bigelow was mostly in control, though Stasiak did connect on a halfway decent flying cross body. Bigelow hit the diving headbutt for a weird near fall. Stacy got on the apron when he called for Greetings from Asbury Park. She handed Shawn hairspray, which he used on Bigelow. A neckbreaker followed and Stasiak won in 5:57. That’s a major drop off after those first two matches. Stasiak always sucked and Bigelow was beyond caring by this point. Boring match with cheap, overused tricks. [¾*]

Backstage, Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo celebrated and put the titles on each other. It was kind of weird.

Hugh Morrus and Konnan vs. Lance Storm and Mike Awesome
Storm and Awesome deserve better than this. The Canadian national anthem wasn’t played and then Morrus charged the ring to start the fight. Once things calmed down, Morrus got isolated for a bit. The true heat segment came when Konnan was the legal man. His selling wasn’t very good, as usual, so he didn’t draw a lot of sympathy. They did a good job of using the old “hot tag that the referee misses” spot. Morrus eventually did get the tag and went for the moonsault. He was cut off and beaten by an Awesome Bomb in 11:28. A bit long, but decent enough. Storm and Awesome were a solid little team. [**]

Several backstage segments ran in a row. One saw Dusty Rhodes eating burritos, one had Buff and Rick Steiner discussing Rick’s match and Scott’s headspace, and one had Palumbo and O’Haire hyping their match.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chavo Guerrero Jr. [c] vs. Shane Helms
Helms having an entrance with his own cheerleaders was kind of cool. Since he was billed as a “human highlight reel,” Chavo kept him grounded. Helms had to use his quickness to combat it, but the veteran champion always seemed to have an answer for him. Though Chavo held serve, he couldn’t put Helms away. As his frustrations grew, he took to the skies, moving away from his game plan. That set the stage for the Helms comeback. The Nightmare on Helms Street got a solid pop, but Chavo got his foot on the bottom rope to stay alive. Chavo’s arrogance got the better of him, when he went for Helms’ Vertebreaker. Helms countered into his own and won his first Cruiserweight Title in 13:57. I enjoyed this. They told a good story that felt different from a lot of cruiserweight matches. Helms was getting taught a lesson at times, but persevered. Chavo made a key mistake and the title changed hands. [***½]

In the back, Ric Flair bragged about being in better shape than Dusty Rhodes. Then, Booker cut a promo about coming for the US Title. He used his terrible, “DON’T HATE THE PLAYER, HATE THE GAME” line.

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Haire [c] vs. Totally Buff
The champs had been besting the challengers in all kinds of matches leading up to this. Despite this, Totally Buff cut a promo before the match where they ran down the champs for being rookies. The champs hit the ring with purpose and squashed Totally Buff in a mere 0:54. Honestly, that was exactly what it needed to be. [NR]

The Cat w/ Miss Jones vs. Kanyon
Kanyon has spent weeks stalking Miss Jones, setting this up. Cat played this match the way you’d hope, considering the angle. He was aggressive and beat Kanyon all around the ring. Unfortunately, it seemed clear that Kanyon wasn’t bringing the effort. Things got way too complicated late. Kanyon used a lazy rollup with his feet on the ropes, and seemed to win, but the referee waved it off. Kanyon used his cast as a weapon, then knocked off the ref intentionally, and then Miss Jones accidentally kicked the Cat. It was a mess. Still, Kanyon and Jones stood around a bit, before she kicked him. Cat got up, added another kick, and won in a LONG 10:31. That just kept going and going. Lackluster effort from Kanyon and way too much overbooking killed this. [*¼]

Kanyon attacked Cat after the match, until MI Smooth (Ice Train) made the save. No, he didn’t have his awesome Ice Train theme.

WCW United States Championship: Rick Steiner [c] vs. Booker T
I wish early 90s Rick got the push that late 90s/early 00s Rick got. Here, he was washed up and beyond caring. Lots of brawling around the ring and rest holds inside. With Rick controlling things, the fun that Booker brought to matches was kept at bay. Booker got a rally going and hit the Scissors Kick. However, there was a ref bump. Is it WCW 2000 all over again? Surprisingly, a Magnificent Seven member didn’t come out. Instead, Shane Douglas ran in from the crowd and whacked Rick with his cast. Booker hit the Book End to win the title in 7:31. Booker tried, but Rick wasn’t interested in doing anything to put him over. At least it was relatively short. [*½]

Kiss My Ass Match: Dustin and Dusty Rhodes vs. Jeff Jarrett and Ric Flair
The loser must kiss the winner’s ass. Animal came out with Jarrett and Flair, but was instantly ejected. The fans were molten hot for Dusty. Dustin did most of the work, getting worn over by his opponents. Once Dusty got tagged in against Flair, people went nuts. It was their first EVER meeting on PPV. And it came with Flair in a Hawaiian shirt. Dustin ended up as the legal man again, getting his knee worked over. Dusty’s real hot tag had the crowd roaring and he delivered elbows galore. Flair survived the Dusty elbow and the heels came back with stereo Figure Fours. When that failed, they were sent into each other and Dustin beat Flair with an ugly rollup in 9:58. Good old fashioned fun. Jarrett and Dustin were fine, while Dusty and Flair did well with their little bit of work. The crowd ate this up. [**½]

Post-match, Dustin held Jarrett in place for a Dusty stink face.

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Falls Count Anywhere Match: Scott Steiner [c] w/ Midajah vs. Diamond Dallas Page
Steiner finally brought a bit of stability to a title that was a joke in 2000. Like some other matches tonight, this started out aggressively and they brawled around the ring. As they fought in the crowd, DDP got two on an elbow through a table for the first big spot. When they got back to the ring, Steiner took over. DDP was very good in getting his hope spots in, while making sure Scott looked great. DDP hit the Diamond Cutter, but Rick Steiner showed up and pulled the referee out. A shot with the title busted DDP wide open, leading to him fighting to the ropes on several submission attempts, including the Steiner Recliner. Finally, a Midajah distraction allowed Scott to whack DDP with a pipe and put on the Steiner Recliner again to win in 14:14. That was a very good main event. Scott was motivated and DDP brought his usual stuff. They didn’t do a ton with the stipulation and the cheating just bordered on overdoing it without going too far. [***¼]

The Steiners continued to beat on Booker T to wrap up WCW Pay-Per-Views forever.

7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
I ended up liking this Pay-Per-View way more than expected. There are several good matches, including the opener and the main event. The CW Tag Title match was easily the last great WCW match and it’s interesting to see how well most of this was booked. WCW was clearly headed for something better in 2001. The Tag Title squash worked wonderfully, the Dusty tag was entertaining, and I dug the Cruiserweight Title match. A good show with some high quality booking decisions.
legend

article topics :

WCW, WCW Greed, Kevin Pantoja