After the usual introduction by Joey Styles and Joel Gertner, Anarchy Rulz 2000 kicks off with Danny Doring and Roadkill vs. Christian York and Joey Matthews. Matthews would go on to greater fame as Joey Mercury in the WWE. Doring and Roadkill had gotten over as a babyface tag team with the ECW crowd and, having now watched most of their PPV matches, they are a much better tandem than I initially thought. This is a "good enough" match, but there's not a ton of heat because both teams are babyfaces. After the match ends, Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger show up to beat down the good guys. Nothing special and a bit underwhelming considering some of the hot openers ECW had put on in their previous few shows. (2/5)
Next up - Joel Gertner vs. Cyrus...only instead of that match, it somehow turns into Kid Kash vs. EZ Money. EZ Money was backed up by Chris Hamrick, Julio Dinero, and Elektra. The story here is that if Kash (selected by ECW authority Spike Dudley) can beat Money, then Gertner will get his match with Cyrus. That sort of stipulation always telegraphs who is going to win, but what really mattered here was that Kid Kash got to shine again. At this point, he was one of the few "must see" talents in ECW and it is a bit remarkable that he never really got a major push in the WWE as his offense looked terrific. I wouldn't go out of my way to see this match, but it is above average and Kash's double springboard front-flip splash to the outside is an excellent spot. EZ Money stood out less, but as the heel, that could be expected. A solid 10-minute bout. (3/5)
After the match, the heels beat up on Kash and Spike Dudley, so out comes The Sandman to a huge pop. The Sandman canes the bad guys and then, in a scene that certainly wouldn't fly in the WWE of today, pours a can of beer all over Elektra's chest and rubs Gertner's face in it. This leads to Cyrus vs. Gertner, which isn't really much of a match but also doesn't eat alot of time and ends with another crowd-pleasing moment. I liked that Gertner's body was painted like Kamala's (he had been hinting that he'd been in training for this match with a legend). Its near impossible to rate a "match" like this because it wasn't designed to be a competitive bout and neither Cyrus or Gertner were capable of actually pulling off anything resembling a real wrestling bout, but the addition of The Sandman made this a fun segment overall. (+1)
With this show going pretty well up till this point, it was time for something shitty: Da Baldiez vs. Balls Mahoney and Chilly Willy. But wait...they go less than 10 minutes, there are two cool hardcore spots in the crowd, and Balls Mahoney absolutely brains DeVito with a chair, so this is not nearly as bad as I expected. Maybe Da Baldiez were somewhat competent when they weren't saddled with having to carry New Jack? Now, to be clear, there is still not much psychology or realism in this match as seriously violent spots are barely sold (including Mahoney getting staple-gunned in the eye, standing up to take two chairshots, and only then, after the match, selling that he might be half-blind), but ECW, at its best, was always a bit of a variety show and - as we'll see with the next two bouts - this match fit nicely as the show's requisite super-violent "garbage" match. (2/5)
After some interviews (and Lou E. Dangerously attacking Joel Gertner), we get Steve Corino (with Dawn and Jack Victory in tow) against CW Anderson. Both guys were ostensibly heels but Corino was showing glimmers of being a babyface as he had proven himself to be one of the most entertaining acts in ECW and had also stopped being 100% "old school." I'm not sure Corino ever became a full-fledged good guy in his ECW run, but this match shows that he absolutely could've been as he shows a ton of fire, taking a beating but never "dying," and some of his offense is wonderful, crowd-pleasing stuff (an atomic drop into the spine of a chair, devastating suplexes, cribbing Dusty Rhodes' Bionic Elbow but putting his own spin on it). Speaking of CW Anderson, he really shined here too and while his gimmick is pretty cringe, he does do a good job of getting heat. This match is about as good a match can be without necessarily being "must see." (3.5/5)
Rhyno defended the ECW Television Champion against Rob Van Dam in the next contest. The story going into this match was that RVD had never actually lost the title (he had had to vacate it due to injury). RVD was immensely popular in ECW and, at the time, his mix of martial arts-inspired kicks and risky high-flying made him stand out considerably, but his matches tended to be criticized for being "spotfests" and lacking much logic (long-term selling, escalation of offense, lots of weapons-based offense that would hurt him just as much as his opponent). Here, though, he has to adjust his style away from flashy exchanges and the match is all the better for it. This is still an ECW match - weapons, brawling in the crowd, piledriver through tables onto concrete floors only eliciting a nearfall - but it does have some structure and escalation. The finish was a bit too wonky as Justin Credible showed up to distract Van Dam (I'm not sure if there was a storyline reason for this or not, it's never really explained on commentary) and while Van Dam hit the Van Terminator, Rhyno pulled Alfonso in front at the last possible moment to take the chair shot. Rhyno got to retain the title and RVD got to look strong, but I would've preferred a cleaner ending and the audience clearly hated seeing the most popular guy on the roster take a screwjob loss. (3/5)
Main event time - Justin Credible vs. Jerry Lynn for Credible's ECW World Championship. I'm not sure why Credible gets an extended entrance - or even why the challenger comes out second (aside from this match being in front of Lynn's hometown crowd) - but that's how things start. Credible and Lynn do some good, solid wrestling to start things out. Nothing too offensive, but nothing special. Things pick up once the action spills out to the floor and we get more involvement from Francine, who gets a ton of heat, but in an effort to deliver a World Championship/main event-caliber match, Credible's "heat" segment goes way too long. The problem here is that while Lynn was a spectacular wrestler, that was the entirety of his gimmick. Credible, meanwhile, was just a generic heel that did generic, one-note things to draw scorn from the crowd. Then, we get at least 3-4 "swerve" finishes including a ref bump, an evil referee refusing to make a fair count, multiple failed fast counts (if the referee is so corrupt, why does he even acknowledge Lynn's kickouts?), and, finally, a run-in from New Jack that evens the odds and allows Lynn to get the W. Lynn's victory is a feel-good moment for the fans and it was a wise move to let the show end in such a joyous fashion, but I really wish he had captured the title from a more interesting villain and not the generally unremarkable Credible. (3/5)
With an overall Kwang Score of 2.92-out-of-5, the 2000 edition of Anarchy Rulz was one of the more consistently good ECW shows from start to finish. Unfortunately, though, it lacked a single match that was truly great, though it is often the case - especially for ECW pay-per-views - that those type of matches tend to happen on shows that are far more hit-and-miss. This show may not blow you away at any point, but it also won't bore you for long stretches. The feel-good ending also helps an otherwise so-so main event. If you're at all a fan of latter-day ECW, this is the show to check out, even if its clear that the company was on its last legs by this point.
FINAL RATING - Watch It
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