Something that's been occuring to me over the past few weeks is the possible change in who WWE has been recruiting recently, and awarding pushes. Looking at the guys who have come through in the past few years, and really made leaps up the card...
CM Punk - respected indie worker, now a 3 time World Champion.
Kaval - highly respected indie worker, winner of NXT series 2
Daniel Bryan - one of the best indie wrestlers on the planet, now possibly the most talked about wrestler of the year, and a title match at Night of Champions
Tyler Black - RoH champion, and already toeing the company line about how great WWE is.
Alberto Del Rio - the most impressive debut I've seen in a long time
Evan Bourne - Matt Sydal on the indie circuit, again a respected high flyer.
Yoshi Tatsu - well-known in Japan
Of course, there are the guys who didn't quite make it (Colt Cabana being the most obvious one, who I was stunned didn't 'make it'), but it certainly seems that WWE may be realising that their style of developing 'cookie cutter' wrestlers who all look the same, talk the same and are greener than grass when they get chucked in at the deep end. It's incredibly rare for a guy to come out of WWE development, with a big storyline which actually launches them. Usually, the best they can hope for is a short run with Matt Hardy or Chavo Guerrero, depending on the face/heel path they're following (unless they're mates with Triple H, of course).
I've followed WWE for a very long time now, and I can't think of a time when they've signed so many guys from the indies, certainly not since the demise of WCW and ECW.
I'm also wondering how much of it is WWE's attempts to hurt rival companies now that RoH has a TV deal? Is it a way of easing the pressure on WWE development to produce the next Batista / Cena / Orton? Or is it a way of appeasing the older wrestling fans, by signing the more serious wrestlers?
