Should the failure of ECW be placed on RVD?

[Arnold HamNegger]

I was thinking about how different ECW possibly would be right now if RVD hadn't fucked up. Going by reports at the time, Vince was planning on giving RVD a long Title run to help establish the credibility of the ECW brand. These are some things that could have been avoided or could be different if RVD hadn't felt the need to "weed and speed":

1. Bobby Lashley's push.

2. People such as Hardcore Holly, Test and Snitsky (it's coming) being thrown repeatedly in Main Event title matches.

3. ECW would not fall into the WWE "Same Old Shit" category with it's Title holders. This means, muscle guys with limited move sets, no athletic moves. Lashley vs. Cena vs. Batista. There's no difference.

4. Paul Heyman may still be creatively involved. Seems like after RVD got in the doghouse and lost both belts, things went down hill between Heyman and Vince/WWE/ECW.

5. The disaster of "December to Dismember" could have been avoided. This also was the final nail in the coffin for Heyman being dismissed/quitting ECW.

6. Not to mention this would have kept the belt off from John Cena for alot longer.

7. Actual "Hardcore Rules" involved with every Title match. The fact that the ECW title is EVER defended on any other stipulations than "Hardcore Rules" is pretty damn pathetic IMO.

8. Ratings would not be so low if RVD was champ. Some of the ECW faithful may have stuck around longer.

9. Vince and ECW/WWE creative seemed to have a long term plan with RVD at the helm. When he fucked up, everything seemed to be thrown together out of panic storyline wise and ECW never fully recovered. Big Show was given the belt and everyone and their mothers were making an appearance on ECW from RAW and Smackdown. It has taken MUCH longer to develop any character depth or storylines due to ECW tv time being taken up by Raw/Smackdown talent.

10. RVD and CM Punk would possibly have been written a program together by now. There seems like NO CHANCE of that at the moment due to both being in the "doghouse." To me and from what I've read on TPWW, this is the fued that alot of fans have been waiting for from the new ECW.

There are probably other factors that I've forgotten, but this will be good to start. Opinions?

(Keep in mind that I'm a HUGE RVD fan, so this isn't an "Anti-RVD" rant.)