What happened to "Paying Your Dues?"

[My Final Heaven]

Hello all, I just drove into town to get something to drink, & I got to thinking about something on the way back. It seems that as of late, the WWE creative team has completely lost touch with / forgotten about the concept of "paying your dues". For anybody who doesn't know, that means when you get signed by the WWE (or many other companies for that matter), you pretty much have to count on putting other, more established guys over & slogging around on the undercard for a little while to prove yourself. Not too long ago, that was a HUGE thing for Vince & Co. You had RVD, Jericho, Booker, & lots of others putting over wrestlers left & right, and the logic that WWE gave was that they had to prove themselves since they hadn't been working for vince for long.

Now, though, Iv'e noticed that more & more new guys are getting mega pushes on, like, their FIRST night on WWE tv:

Carlito Carribean Cool: 1st match on Smackdown, he wins the US title from John Cena, & holds it for a couple of months. He gets traded to Raw. In his 1st match on the brand, He wins the Intercontinental title from Shelton Benjamin, who had held the belt for longer than anyone had in years. Now, I'm not complaining or anything. Carlito's one of the best things to happen in WWE in a really long time, & he's a great Heel champion. But a title win on his first night on both brands? I think that's pushing it a little.

Chris Masters: Still hasn't wrestled a singles match, but theyr'e still selling the hell out of The Master Lock. Every monday King & J.R. are screaming bloody murder & shooting their load about what an incredible hold it is, but Ken Patera was using the exact same thing 30+ years ago working for Vince's daddy. See, kids, it's easy to get any big, green oaf over without wasting time on stupid things like "ingenueity" or "any sort of feasable effort."

MNM: This is where the creative team's logic (or lack thereof) bugs me the most. Their 1st match on Smackdown, they not only win the WWE tag titles, but they win them from EDDIE GUERRERO AND REY MYSTERIO. Ok, let's take a look at both sides of this. On one side, Johnny Nitro & Joey Mercury, a mildy entertaining (on a good night) heel tag team suffering from a case of "Keibler-itis" (if you can't get guys over on thier charisma or workrate, just stick them with a half-naked woman, problem solved). On the other hand, EDDIE GUERRERO AND REY FUCKING MYSTERIO. PUTTING OVER THE GUY WHO USED TO GET ERIC BISCHOFF'S COFFEE ON RAW. That's classic McMahon logic there.

Well, thats all I can really think to say on the subject right now. Are there other wrestlers that you've noticed are being built up as unstoppable that just plain don't deserve the push or can't pull off the illusion? I'd really like to know what everybody else thinks about this subject.