Babu started appearing on ECW shows in 1995 under the ring name of El Puerto Riqueño. He challenged for the ECW Television Championship on several occasions, but he was not able to win the belt. He appeared at several major shows; his first major appearance was a loss to Stevie Richards at November to Remember 1995. The following month, he competed at December to Dismember 1995, losing to Taz, and Holiday Hell 1995, where he lost to Bruiser Mastino. He wrestled at three major ECW shows in 1996, losing to Spiro Greco at CyberSlam 1996, wrestling to a no contest against Super Nova at Hostile City Showdown 1996, and losing to Louie Spicolli at Heat Wave 1996. In 1997, he started to wrestle under his real name. Also during his ECW run, he competed under the name Ubas. During his run, he appeared on ECW Hardcore TV, and also appeared on some of ECW's feature shows. He left ECW when he was signed by WWF.
He was briefly part of the WWF's fledgling Light Heavyweight division, wrestling two matches against Taka Michinoku in late 1997 and early 1998. He re-debuted on the August 16, 1998 episode of Sunday Night Heat under the name of "Abu" (later "Babu"). His gimmick was that of a manservant to Tiger Ali Singh. He was often seen doing degrading things for Singh. Although most of his stint in WWF was in a non-wrestling role, he did have a few televised matches: on the November 3, 1998 edition of Monday Night Raw, he was ordered by Tiger Ali Singh to wrestle Al Snow, though Singh reentered and won the match; on the December 6, 1998 edition of Sunday Night Heat, he teamed with Singh to wrestle Kurrgan and Luna Vachon, with the match ending in a no-contest. He also wrestled on a 1998 edition of Shotgun when he was ordered by Singh to compete against Goldust in a losing effort.
He soon went back to ECW, appearing twice on their television shows. On the January 2, 1999 edition of ECW's Hardcore TV, he lost to Yoshihiro Tajiri. He also appeared on ECW on TNN on December 17, 1999, wrestling Super Calo and Hidaka in a three way match. That match ended in a no-contest.