WCW Greed
| Greed | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) Promotional poster featuring Scott Steiner | ||||
| Tagline(s) | It's All or Nothin' Baby | |||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | World Championship Wrestling | |||
| Date | March 18, 2001 | |||
| Attendance | 5,030[1] | |||
| Venue | Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum | |||
| City | Jacksonville, Florida | |||
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||||
| ||||
Greed was the final pay-per-view event (PPV) from World Championship Wrestling (WCW) that replaced the promotion's March PPV event Uncensored which was held from 1995 to 2000. It took place on March 18, 2001 from the Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida. The pay-per-view event took place eight days before the final episode of Monday Nitro and three days before the final episode of Thunder.
In 2014, all WCW pay-per-views were made available on the WWE Network.
Background
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 nights 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 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 Monday Night Raw was also live and revealed that he was the one who purchased WCW. This was part of a storyline between both Vince and Shane McMahon that would lead up to the WWF's Invasion storyline.
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.