Did John Cena derail the ECW brand in 2006?

I can't believe nobody has touched on this point yet:

The moment where Sabu was allowed to put Cena through a table on Raw. For me, that is one of the most memorable moments of the 2000's with regards to Monday Night Raw. It was a message that ECW was being taken seriously. Obviously the following years proved otherwise but, at the time, I feel that shows that the WWE were getting behind it.

ECW fans look at Sabu through rose tinted glasses. I like Sabu, at the time I REALLY liked Sabu. However, how can anyone imply that Sabu didn't go over Cena as he was "Vince's golden boy"? More like Vince's golden goose. Cena, especially back then, was a drawing phenomenon. He was the biggest star in wrestling BY FAR. Sabu was a broken down shell of a man who never drew a dime outside of ECW.

The sheer fact that Sabu was even working with the biggest star in wrestling was a HUGE rub for both Sabu and ECW.

I actually don't understand your gripe. Are you complaining that Sabu was working a Main-Event storyline or that he lost to the top face in the company? As has been stated previously that storyline was perfect in that Cena was the perfect foil for the ECW originals AND the logical conclusion was for the proven Main-Eventer to come out on top. That's why JR used that line, that was the storyline behind the feud.

You also need to look at the landscape of the company at the time. Without an understanding of what was going on in the company at the time you're looking at the event out of context.

Sabu was coming off an incredible debut with WWE. He took the then World Heavyweight (ha) Champion, Rey Mysterio, to his physical limits to the stage where neither competitor could continue. The message was clear: this guy is fucking dangerous and can go toe-to-toe with WWE's best, and hurt them. He's a threat.

John Cena was coming off of a huge loss to Rob Van Dam at One Night Stand. Further, who do you think would be working with RVD and Edge after this PPV if RVD hadn't been arrested? John Cena. Cena HAD to go over to keep up momentum and to give the fans a reason to believe that Cena was back in the title picture.

Had Cena lost, he'd have lost two straight PPV matches and wouldn't have any momentum. Don't forget - with RVD as WWE and ECW Champion he was THE guy in ECW, its top guy. Sabu, logically, was the Upper-Midcarder. He was the guy UNDER RVD. How can we believe Cena can beat RVD when he couldn't even beat the guy under RVD?

I'm sorry to be a dick but if you believe Sabu should have gone over then you simply don't have a grasp of basic booking procedures. Yes, let's invest in a guy past forty who hasn't proven he can make us money at the expense of our top earner.

To be honest, as I stated previously, I think Sabu's early WWE work was booked excellently and delivered well by the dude.

Now, onto what did derail ECW. I think RVD's bust took away from the momentum of the brand at a very, very critical stage of its development. I don't think it can be overstated just how devastating it was for the brand. While Big Show did an admirable job, he just wasn't the guy to carry the brand at the initial and pivotal stage.

Despite an IWC tendency to assign blame (without basis) to certain moments and workers, I must agree that Lashley's ECW run was terrible for that brand. It became a vessel to make Lashley. However, I think Vince winning the ECW belt, and the corresponding angle, to be golden. It would have been the perfect post-Cena angle for RVD. The heat it would have gotten with fans is immeasurable. If original ECW fans were still watching and/or cared at that point they would have been chomping at the bit for Vince to get his at the hands of Van Dam.

However, as it was Lashley going to benefit from the angle it just didn't work. Lashley was a nonsensical addition to the ECW roster in every sense.

As others have said, ECW also had some really, really good periods. Hardy, Christian, Henry and Morrison's title reigns were highlights of their respective times for me. They were great. Also, imagine what would have been if the Benoit tragedy didn't occur.

Did the brand live up to the hype? No, I don't think it did. However, going back to initial point of this thread, part of that huge hype was that ECW guys were working with top WWE stars like John Cena. Indeed, the feeling after Sabu put Cena through the table was electric.

So, did Cena derail ECW? No, not at all. That's beyond ridiculous.

Is Cena part of the reason ECW didn't live up to expectations? Partly. Cena's involvement meant people took ECW's return seriously and resulted in it being hyped to the moon. Hype that it didn't live up to.

EDIT: To the above poster. Not only was Cena not WWE Champion for this match, RVD was, but I can't believe you suggested Sabu become WWE Champion. How could a company put its biggest, most important title on a guy who had never proven to them he could make money? It'd be like putting the WWE title on on some NXT guy to get NXT over as an interesting show. It'd be a terrible mistake. Your whole plan for Sabu was already occuring with RVD as ECW AND WWE Champion.

Sabu working with Cena and RVD (who, unlike Sabu, was a proven draw worthy of the main title) working with Edge was already showing that ECW guys could hang with WWE guys.