Chetti made his Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) debut under the ring name GQ Gorgeous, teaming with Pat Day at a live event in Middletown, New York on September 21, 1996, where they lost to The Dudleys (Buh Buh Ray and Spike). Chetti and Day made a few appearances at ECW live events for the next few months as enhancement talents against more established wrestlers. Chetti's first win was against Roadkill on November 22 and November 23.
Chetti changed his ring name to Chris Van de Lay and made his televised debut on the January 30, 1997 episode of Hardcore TV against Mikey Whipwreck in a losing effort. He soon began using his given name Chris Chetti in a match against The Full Blooded Italians member Little Guido at Winter Blowout. Chetti soon established himself as a fan favorite and began feuding with the F.B.I., primarily against Little Guido, whom he defeated for the first time at CyberSlam. At Hostile City Showdown, Chetti teamed with Tracy Smothers to take on F.B.I. members Little Guido and Tommy Rich, during which Smothers turned on Chetti to join Full Blooded Italians. Chetti continued his rivalry with FBI over the next few months. He received several title shots against Shane Douglas for the ECW World Television Championship at Buffalo Invasion and Wrestlepalooza, but failed to win the title on both occasions.
Chetti formed a tag team with Jerry Lynn as the two defeated FBI in a tag team match at Hostile City Showdown on January 31, 1998. Chetti and Lynn won a rematch against FBI at Living Dangerously, where Chetti made his pay-per-view debut. Chetti feuded with FBI throughout the rest of 1998. At UltraClash, Chetti teamed with J.T. Smith and Tommy Rogers to defeat Little Guido, Tommy Rich and Tracy Smothers in an Italian Vendetta six-man tag team match.
Chetti's first major match in 1999 was a win against Steve Corino at House Party. He soon formed a tag team with Nova. The team of Chetti and Nova had their first feud with Rod Price and Skull Von Krush, whom they defeated at CyberSlam. Chetti and Nova then exchanged wins with Danny Doring and Roadkill at Hostile City Showdown and Heat Wave. At Anarchy Rulz, Nova and Chris Chetti fought Simon Diamond and Tony DeVito to a no contest after interference from ECW wrestlers. At the 2000 Guilty as Charged pay-per-view, Chetti substituted for an injured Jazz as Nova and Kid Kash's tag team partner against the team of Danny Doring, Roadkill and Simon Diamond in a losing effort. Chetti and Nova defeated the team of Jado and Gedo at Living Dangerously. Following the win, they entered the ECW World Tag Team Championship picture as they challenged the tag team champions The Impact Players (Lance Storm and Justin Credible) for the title on the April 24 episode of Hardcore TV in a losing effort. The following week, on Hardcore TV, Chetti defeated Credible in a match, which earned Chetti and Nova, another title shot at Impact Players on the April 14 episode of ECW on TNN, which they lost.
Nova and Chetti then continued their success in the tag team division by defeating The New Dangerous Alliance (C.W. Anderson and Bill Wiles) at Wrestlepalooza. At Hardcore Heaven, Chetti and Nova defeated Da Baldies (Angel and Tony DeVito) and the team of Danny Doring and Roadkill in a three-way dance. At Heat Wave, Chetti and Nova defeated Da Baldies in a tag team match. On the August 6 episode of Hardcore TV, Chetti received his first opportunity for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, challenging Justin Credible for the title in a losing effort.
On the September 3 episode of Hardcore TV, Chetti and Nova participated in a tournament for the vacant ECW World Tag Team Championship, where they lost to Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger in the quarter-final. The following week, on Hardcore TV, Chetti and Nova competed against Simon and Swinger and Danny Doring and Roadkill in a three-way dance, during which Chetti turned on Nova by hitting him with a chair and causing him to get eliminated, thus turning into a villain for the first time in his ECW career. This disbanded their team and Chetti cut promos in which he berated Nova and held him responsible for Chetti's downfall in ECW; Chetti then aligned himself with Lou E. Dangerously. The two former partners began a rivalry against each other, which culminated in a loser leaves town match between the two at November to Remember, which Nova won. This turned out to be Chetti's final ECW match. Chetti returned to ECW at the company's final pay-per-view, Guilty as Charged on January 7, 2001, where he jumped into Nova's match against Chris Hamrick as the special guest referee in favor of Hamrick until Spike Dudley made the save for Nova.
Chetti made an appearance as a spectator at WWE ECW One Night Stand 2005.