WCW Greed (March 2001)

From Jacksonville, Florida; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Scott Hudson.

Opening Match: Kwee Wee v Jason Jett: Wee attacks from behind (yeah, baby!), and they brawl on the outside, as we get a look at just how empty this building is. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Jett hits a flying bodypress out there, and rolls him in for a bodyslam, which sets up a pump-legdrop for two. Standing surfboard looks cool but goes nowhere, so they criss cross, and Kwee Wee clotheslines him. Nice spot, as they fight over to the apron, and Wee throws him out of the ring with only a handful of hair. Looked really cool. We dives after him with a tope, but Jett sidesteps, and he splats. Another nice spot, as Jason charges him on the floor to capitalize, so Wee blocks with a backdrop - only for it to knock Jett against the ropes, and he falls back onto Wee with a DDT. Jett with a slingshot somersault clothesline on the way back in, and standing moonsault gets two. Cross corner charge, but Wee backdrops him clear out of the ring to block - in another nice spot. Wee follows with a whip into the rail, and rolls him in to get a two count out of it. Wee with a bodyslam, and a Thesz press gets two. Chinlock, as Scott Hudson actually has the balls to call this a 'near capacity crowd' when you can actually see thousands of empty seats. Wee with a vertical suplex, and he tries a superplex next, but Jett counters into a powerbomb off the top - only for Wee to counter back in impressive fashion with a rana on the way down! Awesome! That leaves both guys down for the count, and Wee manages to cover for two. Criss cross ends in Wee hitting an inverted tilt-a-whirl for two, but Jett blocks a piledriver with a low blow, and he hits handspring elbow. Crash Landing, but Wee escapes, and hits a springboard sunset flip for two. Piledriver again, but Jett backdrops, so Wee sunset cradles for one. Wee hits a quick northern lights suplex for two, but ends up on the floor, as Jett plays possum in the ring. Wee sees him down and goes for the kill, but a flying elbowdrop misses, and Jett finishes with the Crash Landing at 12:15. Awesome! Fast paced, filled with eye-popping and innovative spots, and entertaining. Great opener. *** ½

WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Title Match: The Filthy Animals v Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo: This is a tournament final to crown the first champions, though the promotion folded a week later, so you probably don't remember it either. Billy Kidman starts with Romeo, and Billy wins an early counter sequence with a slingshot headscissors. Charge, but Kid catches him in a crazy modified powerbomb - where he hoists him up like a standard powerbomb, but then releases, and flapjacks him. Brutal. Tag to Skipper for some double-teaming, but Skipper's powerbomb is countered by Kidman with a rana. Tag to Rey Mysterio Jr for a flying legdrop onto Skipper for two, and he adds a rana of his own. Another one pulls Skipper over the top, and Kidman is right on him with a baseball slide. That leads to a brawl on the floor between both teams, and the Animals hit them with stereo dives off the entrance set. Back in, the Animals give Skipper a double-team chokeslam for two, but Romeo fires off a cheapshot at Kidman, and Skipper knocks him to the floor. Kid abuses him out there, and inside, Kid gives him a short-clothesline. Chops in the corner, so Kidman responds in kind, but gets bulldogged for his efforts, and caught in a chinlock as the heels cut the ring in half. Skipper with a superplex, but Kidman counters into a sitout powerbomb off the top, and both guys tag. Rey charges in with a tornado DDT on Kid, and we have a four-way brawl. Awesome sequence follows, as Kidman side suplexes Kid for Rey to swanton bomb onto, and then in one motion, Mysterio continues rolling forward, and dives out of the ring with a tope onto Skipper. Amazing! That leads to a dog pile sequence on the floor, and inside, Rey blocks a superplex from Skipper with a sunset bomb for two. The heels dump Kidman so that they can properly double-team Mysterio, and a tiger suplex/2^nd rope flying legdrop combo gets two. Kidman is back with a bulldog onto Romeo, and Rey powerbombs him for Kidman to flying splash - the count broken up by Skipper. He takes a bronco buster for his trouble, but a springboard moonsault onto Romeo is caught, and Kid hits a scoop brainbuster to finish Mysterio at 13:42. Another awesome match, as this fucking promotion is going out with a bang! God damn, those are some ugly belts, though. *** ½

Bam Bam Bigelow v Shawn Stasiak: Bigelow overpowers him to start, so Shawn bails to the floor to cuddle with Stacy Keibler. Back in, Stasiak stalls. He manages a cheapshot, but wastes time blowing kisses at Stacy, and Bigelow backdrops him. Avalanche and a dropkick put Shawn back on the outside, but an attempt at following is thwarted with a chincrusher. Shawn with a flying bodypress on the way back in, and he chokes Bam Bam on the ropes. Bigelow blows him low and hits a falling headbutt, then a flying version for two. Cue Stacy to run interference, and Stasiak sprays a bottle of cologne into Bigelow's eyes, and hits a neckbreaker to finish at 5:57. Well... at least this wasn't the last we'd see of Stacy Keibler. DUD

Team Canada v Hugh Morrus and Konnan: Brawl to start, and the dust settles on Mike Awesome starting with Hugh. Mike clobbers him with a big clothesline, and tags out to Lance Storm, but his chops prove ineffective, and Morrus powerslams him for one. Tag back to Awesome for a big boot, and a legdrop follows for two. Team Canada work Morrus over for a bit, but Storm messes it up and gets decked by Konnan, and Hugh tags. Konnan comes in hot, but gets overwhelmed in a double-team, and Team Canada cut the ring in half on him now - though they do a really shitty job of it, with half their spots knocking Konnan right into his home corner, and Morrus having to pretend he can't reach him. Konnan manages to get the tag when Storm misses a flying splash, and Hugh comes in hot. Four-way brawl, and the No Laughing Matter looks to finish Awesome, but Mike pulls him off the top with a running powerbomb for the pin at 11:10. Not terrible, just really boring. ¼*

WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Chavo Guerrero Jr v Shane Helms: Hey, the store didn't go out of business! Initial lockup goes to a stalemate, so Chavo slaps on a side-headlock, and wrenches it. Helms reverses on the mat, but Chavo snapmares him, and they trade reversals to a stalemate. Another reversal sequence leads to a nice criss cross, and Chavo takes his head off with a lariat. Cross corner whip sets up a side suplex, but Shane counters into a gutwrench version, and adds a 2^nd rope fistdrop for two. Nightmare, but Chavo counters into an exploder suplex for two, then slaps on an STF. Shane escapes, so Guerrero side suplexes him for two, but a somersault cradle triggers a reversal sequence - Chavo winning with a DDT for two. Standing dropkick by the champion, and a pumphandle-slam gets two. Vertical suplex, but Shane counters into a waistlock, so Chavo shoves him out of the ring. Chavo with a baseball slide and a flying bodypress out after him, then rolls him in to get two out of it. Vertical suplex, but Shane again escapes, this time countering into a topspin facebuster. Swinging neckbreaker follows for two, and a superkick gets two. Another superkick misses, and they trade reversals - Guerrero winning with a lifting-falling inverted DDT for two. Tornado DDT, but Shane blocks, so Chavo switches to a pumphandle again - only for Shane to counter into the Nightmare for two. Helms dumps the champ out for a flying bodypress on the floor, and another flying bodypress on the way in is worth two. Bodyslam sets up a flying splash, but Chavo knocks him off the turnbuckle, and hooks the leg for two. Vertebreaker, but Shane reverses, and wins the title at 13:55. Good match, about on par with their match at Sin two month prior - though I liked that one just a tad better. ** ¾

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: The Natural Born Thrillers v Totally Buffed: Nothing match, as they brawl right away, and Chuck Palumbo superkicks both Buff Bagwell and Lex Luger for Sean O'Haire to Seanton Bomb at 0:52. Now THAT'S how you put the new guys over! Too little too late, but that was a hell of a squash. DUD

Ernest Miller v Kanyon: Brawl in the aisle to start, and in, Cat controls with a shoulderblock. Kanyon tries to dump him, but Miller skins-the-cat (heh), and hits an electric chair on a cocky Kanyon. Seated dropkick, and Miller tosses him out for a brawl on the floor. Kanyon snaps his neck across the top rope on the way back in, and follows with a flying clothesline for two. Vertical suplex sets up a slingshot elbowdrop for two, and a 2^nd rope rocker dropper is worth two. Chinlock, but Cat escapes, so Kanyon tries a sleeper, and gets side suplexed for his efforts. Cat tries a hiptoss, but Kanyon counters into a neckbreaker for two. To the top, but Miller crotches him up there, and superplexes him down for two. Cat runs through his dancing offense, and a roundhouse kick gets two to finish the sequence. Kanyon blows him low and tries a cradle with two feet on the ropes, and as he argues with the referee about counting, Miller schoolboys him for two. Miller with a piledriver, but Kanyon counters into a Boston crab - Cat getting the ropes. Kanyon tries a cross corner whip, but gets reversed, and Miller hits the Feliner for two. Side suplex, but Kanyon bops him with his cast covered arm for two. Miss Jones comes in as a distraction, however, and Cat finishes with another Feliner at 11:15. Decent match - well worked, and the crowd was into it throughout. * ¼

WCW United States Title Match: Rick Steiner v Booker T: Rick knocks him out of the ring right away, and tosses him into the front row - right onto some poor lady who does not appreciate the concept of audience participation. Inside, Rick punts a field goal in his ribs, and clotheslines him for two. Booker tries fighting back, but Rick rakes the eyes, and hits a double-underhook powerbomb for two. Chinlock, but Booker escapes, so Rick rakes the eyes again, and tries a bow-and-arrow. Booker escapes and hits a side suplex, but Steiner counters a roundhouse kick with a belly-to-belly suplex for two. Blind charge misses, however, and Booker sunset flips for two - only to get clotheslined when they pop back up. Chinlock, but Booker powers up, and hits a forearm. Spinebuster sets up the axekick, and a flapjack follows. Harlem sidekick hits the referee by accident, and Steiner German suplexes his challenger. Cue Shane Douglas as Rick tries to revive the referee, and he clobbers Rick for Booker to Bookend at 7:36. Rick looked terrible (slow and lazy), but Booker was game to carry him through a decent outing - thankfully kept short. *

Kiss My Ass Match: Ric Flair and Jeff Jarrett v Dusty Rhodes and Dustin Rhodes: Jeff starts with Dustin, and Rhodes controls with a variety of punches, then shoves Jarrett into the corner for a ten-punch. Dustin crotches him on the post and tries a flying fistdrop, but Jeff lifts his boot, and tags. Ric comes in with some punch-kick stuff so lazy that Dustin just casually walks away and tags his father. Hey, what do you expect? He's literally dressed for vacation here. Crowd comes alive for Dusty, and he controls Flair with a shoulderblock. They do the WrestleMania X-8 'stop and look at the crowd' bit for a while, and Dusty unloads a series of elbowsmashes before tagging back to Dustin. Suplex on Flair and an inverted atomic drop for Jarrett, but Ric blows him low to stop the shattered dreams, and the heels cut the ring in half. Jeff tries the figure four, but Dustin escapes, and side suplexes him to allow the tag. Dusty is a house of arson, and it's elbows galore to trigger a four-way brawl. Flair and Jarrett tries stereo figure fours, but the faces escape, and Dustin cradles Ric for the pin at 9:57. Afterwards, Jarrett takes a stinkface from Dusty, though thankfully Flair is spared the same. Pretty lazy match, but it worked because all four guys came from an era where they cut their teeth learning how to work crowds and work tag formulas, and they could sleepwalk through it - which is essentially what they did here. Plus, it's fitting that Ric Flair's last WCW pay per view appearance was battling Dusty Rhodes. ¾*

Main Event: WCW World Title Falls Count Anywhere Match: Scott Steiner v Diamond Dallas Page: DDP spits in his face and unloads, then hits a quick swinging neckbreaker for two. Flying clothesline gets two, and Scott wisely bails. Page is right on him with a shot into the rail though, and he beats him all around ringside, but Scott reverses a whip into the rail. Into the crowd, they brawl over to a guy on crutches (an obvious plant - he was sitting in a special, roped off section, by himself), and of course, Steiner steaks his crutch to abuse Page with. Page returns fire with the crutch, and he puts Scott through a table out there for two. They brawl back to ringside, and Scott finds another plant at ringside to steal things from and abuse. Hope they paid those guys well, because being Scott Steiner's roid-rage buddy can't be a fun job. Into the ring, Scott does his clothesline/elbowdrop combo for two, and he adds an exploder suplex for two. Bearhug, but Page escapes, so Steiner gives him an overhead suplex for two. Page tries fists of fury to turn it around, but Scott blocks a charge, and belly-to-belly suplexes him for two. Bow-and-arrow, but Page escapes, and hits a DDT. Short-clothesline and a series of turnbuckle smashes, but a cross corner charge misses, and Steiner gets two. DDP with another DDT, but Scott blocks the Cutter with a mule kick, and he hits a neckbreaker. Snake-eyes, but Page shoves him into the corner to block, and hits the Diamond Cutter - only for Rick Steiner to pull the referee out! Page dives onto Rick with a plancha, and covers Scott again for two. Scott with a chincrusher, and he whacks DDP with the title belt - busting him open, and getting two. Boston crab, and Page is just gushing blood here - pooling on the mat. He makes the ropes, so Scott pulls him away for the Recliner, but Dallas grabs the ropes again! Rick attacks again, and Scott beats the challenger with a pipe, then slaps the Recliner back on to retain at 14:13. I didn't care for the brawl through the crowd bullshit that dominated main events during this era, but the in-ring stuff wasn't bad, as Page carried him through a decent match. * ¾

BUExperience: They certainly went out with a bang, give them that. Not that it mattered anymore. I mean, sure, there were some great matches, and sure it was the best WCW show in years, and yes, I enjoyed it, but the company was still dead in the water regardless. Unfortunately for them, this WWF audition tape was all too little, way too late.

But, then, it had been too late for a while. The company was slowly hemorrhaging and dying for over a year before this, and this was just the final gasp. Let’s face it, WCW could have made a comeback, but not by 2001. The all crucial time was late 1998/early 1999, when the WWF was resurgent, but the ratings were still close. Had they made real changes and improvements to the product then – changes like treating guys like Hogan, Nash, and company like they did Luger and Bagwell on this show – then, yeah, they might have still comeback, and stayed competitive. Unfortunately, we know that didn’t happen (for a variety of reasons), and everything from about mid-1999 on was just circling the drain at increasing velocity.

As for this show, it’s definitely worth checking out. Not only is it a damn good show on its own, but it’s got the historical significance of being the last WCW pay per view ever going for it.

R.I.P. WCW

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