Search - ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) - Anarchy Rulz '99 on DVD

Not the best ECW PPV, but still worth the money for ya!

Tajeri Lynn | CA | 06/09/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Considering there are now 4 ECW PPVs available on home video, "Anarchy Rulz '99" represents among the lower half of the current crop, but don't let that fool you. "Anarchy Rulz" offers something for every kind of wrestling fan, from scientific pinfalls to all out assaults onto tables. Most of the matches are very good, though it's sadly clear that with the departure of noticeable ECW talents, the true peak of its quality has already subsided."Anarchy Rulz" contains commentators Joey Styles and Don "Cyrus the Virus" Callus. As always, Styles is a terrific guttermouth whose "Oh My God!" phrases are pure verbal gold in this extreme business. Callus, however, despite coming up with several great lines for every matchup, is still nothing more than a formulaic heel announcer. Callus has the mouth, but he is no Shane Douglas.One bad thing about "Anarchy Rulz" is how the light reflections on the ceiling occasionally conflict with the camera angles. This problem isn't quite present in "Heat Wave '98" or "Barely Legal '97", so why must it happen here?One good thing about this show is that its executive, Mr. Paul Heyman, keeps changing the outcomes of the match before they end, and sometimes before they start. Odd, but surprising.MATCHES1. Lance Storm vs. Jerry Lynn- Both men clash with little more than cleverly-conceived trick pins and the occasional airborne tactic. This one deserves to be the opener to the PPV, and the fans can attest to that; the heat for this one is absolute! Check out the forty-second sequence where there's nothing but tricky pinfalls and the crowd going "1-2-" all the way! I am a huge fan of Storm and Lynn, and pitting them together is a dream. However, the match is hurt by slight pauses and Dawn Marie's interferences. ***3/42. Simon Diamond & DeVito vs. Chris Chetti & Nova- It's hard to tell what's going on here. The fight starts with some burly guy beating up on woman wrestler Jazz, and then ends with New Jack smashing Rod Price's head with a guitar. Too many different characters show up in this mess, including a skank whom we would recognize later as WWE's Lita. The real match could've shown promise, but when Chetti breaks his knee after a lionsault, everything has to change....New Jack is the only hombre who saves this match, as you'd expect.. **1/23. Little Guido vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy- As you should know, this here's a great bout and one of the top three matches in the tape. Watch three men from three different countries (Italy, Japan and Mexico) fly up and land down on each other for the critical victory. This is a fairly good tape for those unfamiliar with Guido, though obviously, he has done better. Tajiri and Crazy once again steal the show with out-of-the-ring Asai Moonsaults and more perfect trade-backs with the take-downs. Super Crazy especially takes the match to insane heights as he does a perfect top-rope Asai Moonsault to the outside and lands perfectly on his feet. The match slows down after it's down to two people, and there are some irritating pauses between hits, but all in all, it still merits excitement. Take note, though; the November To Remember '99 3-Way Dance, this time with Jerry Lynn replacing Guido, is miles beyond this one in terms of its speed and energy. ****1/24. Justin Credible vs. Sabu- WOW, the battle between these two is quite a story worth telling. There's a spot fest every step of the way as the weaselly Credible faces the wrath of the Living Highlight Reel. Jason and Bill Alfonso, who help Justin Credible and Sabu, respectively, help set up the tables, chairs, and a Singapore Cane for the competitors to use to their advantage. I don't know why few give much credit to this match. I think it's the best one at "Anarchy Rulz". Sabu, obviously the better wrestler, gets smashed through 3 tables and eats plenty of chairs in his face. Credible, bloody face and all, sneaks into Sabu's vulnerable side whenever he can and gets back on track. This is a great big brawl, and is among the two men's best. *****+, Match of the tape.5. Taz vs. Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome- The World Heavyweight Title match changes gears after Taz is eliminated less than 5 minutes into the match, which means this is more of another chapter in the legendary Tanaka vs. Awesome feud. As always, this is a brutal fight with elements mainly from the chapter set at "Heat Wave '98". However, weak camera angles (we keep missing critical attacks), slight contrivances and lagging originality do hurt the score for this match, making this the weakest chapter in the feud. Tanaka dominates the match early on with his infamous maneuvers using a chair (or two). But Awesome finally gets the better of Tanaka, planting chair seats on his head and throwing the smaller foe down to TWO tables! Easily, this is a great match for Awesome fans, but that's not his best match. The sequel, at November To Remember '99, makes this match look like the stuff you see on broadcast television. ****1/26. Tommy Dreamer & Raven vs. Steve Corino & Rhino- Argh...You know every PPV has a black sheep, and this is the one. Everybody except Tommy Dreamer thinks they're having an off day in this Tag Title brawl, especially Raven, who shows up only to land a few DDTs. It's definitely not the best way for novice ECW fans to check out Corino and Rhino for the very first time. Thankfully, it's quite short. As I would imply, Dreamer comes out of this match forgiven. *1/27. Rob Van Dam vs. Balls Mahoney- Go ahead, say it. You're amazed that big, burly Balls Mahoney can actually wrestle for a chair-swinging brawler without the body of Mr. PPV, the long-running ECW Television Champ. But Mahoney quickly steals the show here with great mighty slams and a few aerial tricks of his own, as well as a few painful stunts with a chair. Rob Van Dam relies on his well-recognized kicks and chair assaults, as well as another daring leap off the top turnbuckle to the crowd outside, in an effort to best Mahoney (The leap is one of Van Dam's stunts on the night he would win the TV Title). Considering the originality and effort put in this match, I have to say that I like this one better than that overly-hyped RVD vs. Jerry Lynn fight at Hardcore Heaven '99. This is definitely a terrific showcase for those not aware of Mahoney's hard work. Bravo, Balls, and hopefully we'll see more of your matches! ****1/4Thus, if you compute the PPV by its grades, the order from Best to Worst is...A+ Sabu vs. Justin Credible
A- Little Guido vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy
A-/B+ Taz vs. Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome
B+/B Rob Van Dam vs. Balls Mahoney
B Lance Storm vs. Jerry Lynn
C Simon Diamond & Devito vs. Chris Chetti & Nova
D+ Tommy Dreamer & Raven vs. Steve Corino & RhinoHowever, only the last two matches may not be worthy of your time.There you have it. "Anarchy Rulz" is a PPV with its smudgy areas, but they can be ignored with a little help from the Fast Forward button. Enjoy the rest of the stuff, and it'll be worth it."

ECW Anarchy Rulz

Colin Meek | Raleigh, NC | 03/08/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The WWF wishes they could put out a PPV this good. Jerry Lynn vs Lance Storm is the opening bout and they show how good they can really be. Jerry Lynn is one of the most underrated superstars of his day and the WWF made a huge mistake releasing him. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Super Crazy vs little Guido is a 5 star match that has many high spots with the normal greatness of any Tajiri and Super Crazy match up. World Heavyweight Title Match- Taz(champion) vs Masato Tanaka vs Mike Awesome in a ECW classic three way dance. Taz is of course [cheated] do to the fact that he [cheated] over the ECW fans by leaving to the WWF. oh but that worked out great for him, going from one of the top men in wrestling history to a goof that wears a stupid... prison suit to the ring. Anyways, Mike "Gladiator" Awesome puts on a unbelievable showing with Tanaka which outshines even some of their classic FMW bouts. World TV title- RVD(Champion) vs Balls Mahoney, it proves once again that Rob Van Dam can work with anyone. Even the "Fake" Wrestling fans in the WWF that only watch to see the rock can see that RVD is amazing. He proves it here when he does a front flip off the top rope into the crowd. Balls Mahoney also gets in some wicked offense. Just figure if RVD can carry (The should be deadman) The Undertaker to a 5star match imagine what he can do with someone who can take bumps. Overall a great buy and see why the WWF stole ECW wrestlers and ECW tv time, because ECW was the wrestling purists dream and they would be toe to toe with WWF if the greedy front office of the WWF and Vince McMahon didnt fear Paul Heymans company as much as they did."

Hits, Misses, And A Changing Point In ECW

D.P. | California | 05/28/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Now this PPV has history making on so many levels in both a positive & negative way..this was the largest crowd in the history of ECW, ECW went on national TV with their "ECW on TNN" deal weeks earlier, and this was the first ECW PPV available in Canada.

Jerry Lynn vs. Lance Storm - Lance Storm has gone on record saying that this was his most remembered PPV match of his career by his fans who said it made them fans of his. Jerry Lynn came into the ring with his ribs taped which Lance focused on throughout the match but this match is tagged as a "purists' dream match" as that's exactly what it was this was a very atheltic encounter between both men just going out there & doing what they do best, wrestle. Look out for the sequence of trading fast near-falls between both men at one point that brought everyone to their feet.

Simond Diamond & Devito vs. Chris Chetti & Nova - This was the first situation of the night that heavily reflected the PPV title as this started off as a segment between Jazz & Simon Diamond that led to it just being a huge cluster with the lowercard members of the ECW roster (including an appearence from a woman who's better known as Amy "Lita" Dumas) before New Jack came out & cleaned house the only way New Jack knows how.

Super Crazy vs. Little Guido vs. Tajiri - The combination of these three in the ring together has made Paul Heyman go on record saying that this was the best triple threat combination ECW ever had. This was a huge clash of styles as Guido was "the shooter" while Tajiri had the stiff Japanese style & Tajiri had the quick lucha libre style. You knew how this match was going to go right from the start as Guido was launched face first into the mat and it didn't stop there as they went around the outside & through the crowd more than they did in the ring that even Guido's manager in Big Sal went through a table. You saw some nice moves like Tajiri's tarantula onto Crazy with Guido doing a dropkick into Crazy's face for an added effect, Crazy having Tajiri into a combination of both a bow & arrow/surfboard while hooking the head into dragon sleeper, Tajiri on the end of a double submission with Crazy doing a camel clutch while Guido had a boston crab, and the way Crazy & Tajiri double teamed to eliminate Guido that was so high impact that Guido couldn't even roll out of the ring afterwards. One of the best triple threats in ECW history.

Sabu vs. Justin Credible - This was Sabu's return to PPV after the Impact Players had Sabu banned by the athletic commissioners and after Justin Credible tried to get out of the match again...let's just say it didn't pay to be the ring announcer. Those two brought the hardcore out of each other as both men put each other through tables with Sabu's attempt looking like he was trying to break Justin's spine in half. This was such a hardcore war that even Alfonzo got a shot in on Jason at ringside.

ECW Champion Taz vs. Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome - Anarchy Rulz once again as Mike Awesome came through the crowd unannounced & was added to the match last minute at the request of Taz...who got a heavy negative reception after it leaked that he was leaving ECW for the WWF. This match was more of Awesome vs. Tanaka featuring Taz because both men took out & eliminated Taz from the match within the first few moments of the match. From there, you got the performance always expect & recieve from Tanaka & Awesome as both men just beat the hell out of each other with their high impact moves along with weapons like Tanaka doing diving & running chairshots on Awesome while also on the recieving end of some some chairshots to the head of his own & two seperate powerbombs through a table both off the top rope & over the top rope. This was a performance that made Mike Awesome a superstar overnight in the United States.

ECW Tag Team Champions Tommy Dreamer & Raven vs. Steve Corino & Rhino - As a side note, Tommy Dreamer recently won the ECW Tag Team Titles from the departing Dudley Boyz with help from Raven while still suffering a back injury so Tommy did an interview with Joel Gertner before the match to address those issues. In a nutshell, this was basically Corino & Rhino beating down Dreamer & Francine (who got one hell of a chairshot in on Jack Victory) until Raven came in last minute to score the quick pin. If this was the original plan for this match, no wonder Insane Clown Posse backed out at the last minute.

ECW Television Champion Rob Van Dam vs. Balls Mahoney - This was another situation where the phrase "Anarchy Rulz" came into play as Johnny Smith was suppost to be the original challenger for RVD but after taking one chairshot from the "Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freak", Balls stepped in as the next challenger. This match was a great match as people sterotyped Balls Mahoney as someone who's just a hardcore brawler who can only street fight & use weapons but yet kept up & went toe to toe with RVD here who brought out the best in Balls (insert perverted joke here).
("Rob Van Dam: One Of A Kind")

Now there has probably never been a more valid name for a PPV than "Anarchy Rulz" because so many different things happened here that this was an event that signaled a huge change in the direction of ECW so for that alone, this is a memorable event but quality wise, the Tag Team Title match, the New Jack segment, and the fact that Taz was only in the match for 4 mins....this was a nice DVD showcasing ECW but not the best event available."

Almost perfect but just misses the mark.

D.P. | 04/13/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"this isnt ecw's best ppv, but it is great.jerry lynn vs. lance storm- great technical wrestling match, and some awesome arial moves, plus we get funny commentary from none other than cyrus the virus. 9/10the next match never got started really, it was just a little bit of talking, and about 3 miniutes of wrestling, and new jack cleans house. okay segment though for little wrestling. 5/10justin credible vs. sabu- i thought this match would of been a whole lot better than it was but it was still alright, the usual sabu stuff, and some cool table spots. 8/10tajiri vs. super crazy vs. little guido- best match on the card, alot of arial stuff, alot of technical stuff also. 10/10raven and tommy dreamer vs. rhyno and steve corino- not much of a match, basically a five miniute garbage style wrestling match. 6/10tazz vs. mike awesome vs. masato tanaka- pretty good match, this was tazz's last offical ecw match but he really wasnt in the match that long. we got a few good table spots also, and a really awesome one at the end of the match. 8/10rvd vs. balls mahony- well rvd managed to even make balls mahony have a good match, not rvd's best match but far from his worst. rvd takes some rough chair shots, as does balls, all in all good match. 9/10"