In the first quarter of 2001, mainstream professional wrestling was in the midst of a massive transition.
Not only did WCW ultimately cease operations on March 26, 2001 once the WWF purchased 24 contracts, a plethora of trademarks, and the vaunted tape library, Extreme Championship Wrestling, the revolutionary counter-culture promotion, would run its final show in Pine Bluff, AR on January 13, 2001, subsequently beginning its path towards filing for bankruptcy on April 4, 2001.
Looking back, watching the world of wrestling change before our very eyes within a few month span is something that still blows my mind.
Now running TheBigBangMay6.com, I love to go back and research obscure statistics during those final days. Whether it be reading old news stories or watching old pay-per-views, it’s a true passion.
So when I came across one statistic recently, I knew I had to discuss it.
One man would find his way on the last shows of both ECW and WCW, all within that three month span.
It’s a memory that should have been remembered by the majority of wrestling fans. Over the years, however, it has faded throughout the annals of time. But today, we bring it to the forefront and showcase it to its fullest.
This is the story of Jason Jett.
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Jason Jett began his career in Smoky Mountain Wrestling in 1994, wrestling under the name Steve Skyfire. Although he didn’t have the greatest win-loss record, he was gaining experience facing men like Lance Storm, Chris Candido, and New Jack.
Those matches helped strengthen him for his later years. After competing in the Southern US for the rest of the 1990s, he made his debut in ECW on the June 16, 2000 edition of ECW on TNN, facing Kid Kash.
However, unlike the initial Skyfire persona, he transformed himself into EZ Money, a playboy-stripper from Atlantic City, NJ. It truly was a complete 180.
Within weeks, Money formed a faction, with Julio Fantastico, who renamed himself Julio Dinero, “Confederate Currency” Chris Hamrick, and the cougar Elektra, called HOT COMMODITY. They quickly became a hated midcard act during the final days of the promotion. Money’s arrogant demeanor, added in with his flashy in-ring ability, annoyed the ECW fan base immensely.
So immensely, in fact, that on the final ECW pay-per-view, Guilty as Charged on January 7, 2001 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, Hot Commodity received an ECW World Tag Team Championship match against “Dastardly” Danny Doring and Roadkill.
In a great back-and-forth battle, Doring and Roadkill picked up the win when Dinero was leveled with the Buggy Bang for a three-count.
Six days later, at the Pine Bluff Convention Center in Pine Bluff, AR, ECW hosted its final event ever. Truly, one of the saddest nights in wrestling history.
In spite of that, EZ Money was a part of a tag match on the last card, losing with Dinero to the young upstart tag team Christian York and Joey Matthews. Dinero got caught with a double hip toss into a vicious double powerbomb for the L.
With ECW no longer running live events after 1/13/01, Money would find himself as a free agent, looking for work.
He wouldn’t be looking for long.
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On the March 7, 2001 edition of Thunder, 3-Count of Evan Karagias and Shannon Moore were scheduled to face Jamie Noble and Scotty O, better known as Scotty Sabre from Ohio Valley Wrestling, in the quarterfinals of the Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship Tournament. However, due to an injury from Noble, Scotty was allowed to choose a new partner, on short notice.
Enter Jason B.
Now in WCW, the former EZ Money gave it his all alongside Scotty, but the more experienced 3-Count picked up the victory and advanced to the semi-finals to face Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman.
WCW management saw immense potential from Jason B in this match, and decided to give him a chance in the singles realm.
On the following week’s Thunder, Jason B, again, rechristened himself as Jason Jett, and faced Alex Wright. “Das Wunderkind” recently split away from Disco Inferno and wanted to rededicate himself in the singles realm, especially as a former WCW Cruiserweight and Television Champion.
However, it wouldn’t be his night, as in a major upset, Jett defeated Wright. Jett utilized his innovative offense, finishing him off with a release vertical suplex, which does not sound as violent as it looked.
Four days later, on the Greed pay-per-view on March 18, 2001, Jett opened the show against the eccentric Kwee-Wee, who was in the middle of dealing with his schizophrenic side “Angry Alan” and trying to get on the winning path towards future championship opportunities.
To be fair, this match had minimal crowd reaction prior to the bell. Jett was still a virtual unknown to the WCW audience. However, Jett’s absolute tenacity, going pedal-to-the-metal, helped make this match memorable.
Despite the beating he took, Jett delivered a vicious Crash Landing, the name now given to his release vertical suplex, and picked up the win to a shocked crowd in Jacksonville, FL. Surely, Jett’s rise would begin after this impressive victory.
Sadly, this would not be the case.
Following Greed, it was confirmed that Fusient Media Ventures would be backing out of purchasing WCW, due to AOL Time Warner canceling the prime time television time slots on TBS and TNT.
With three shows to go, Jett would continue his winning ways, defeating Disco on the March 19 Nitro and Kid Kash, who also found his way to WCW, on the March 21 Thunder. Could Jett actually go undefeated in singles competition in WCW’s final days?
I never knew until listening to the final WCW LIVE internet pre-show, which was released by Neil Pruett over a decade later on his “Secrets of WCW Nitro” podcast network, that Jett actually wrestled on the dark match prior to the March 26 Nitro against Mark Jindrak.
On a side note, this pre-show match has never been released by WWE over twenty years after happening.
Sadly, Jindrak picked up the victory, and Jett would lose his final WCW match.
It does leave an interesting footnote.
Jason Jett, or EZ Money, was the only man to have competed on both the final pay-per-views of both ECW and WCW, as well as wrestling on each promotion's final events.
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Jason Jett’s career would begin winding down after WCW closed. Although he was one of the 24 contracts picked up by the WWF during the transaction, Jett wrestled the next year-plus in the Heartland Wrestling Association, run by Les Thatcher, until being released in 2002. Jett would wrestle in both Ring of Honor, as EZ Money, and TNA, as both Money and Jason B, in 2003.
He would later begin to build a career designing wrestling gear called EZ Tights throughout the 2010s before officially leaving wrestling in 2015.
To me, I was always a big fan of Jason Jett, and his career always deserved bigger than what it was. Regardless of my feelings, Jett’s wrestling history will always be aligned with both ECW and WCW.
I always wonder what his career would have been had Fusient Media Ventures actually purchased the company and began with The Big Bang on May 6. Needless to say, we can always look back to the opening match of Greed and see his immense potential and incredible work ethic.
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