You can't just blame booking, as easy as it is. If Shawn Michales sat on his ass and took everything he got, he would have never made it past the midcard. He would still be feuding with Martel over non-title matches and getting stuck in singles matches with Marty. If Bret sat on his ass, he'd be 'Cowboy' Bret Hart and come out on a horse.
People give Miz shit about just sitting there and accepting his booking or whatever, but do you think any of those NXT kids are any different? Triple H is the one who said that they want people who want it. Husky got canned, but he wanted it so he came back and said to himself, I've only got one more chance at this and I'm going to stick out. I'm going to take this shit Cena feud and make them remember my part in it.
Let's not just blame everything on booking. Getting to be a star is an uphill battle(unless you're Roman Reigns,) and you have to take a shit sandwich and make gold out of it. That is wrestling. As long as it's been. It's an uphill battle to get yourself over because noen of the veterans want you over. If you can't get past WWE's booking then you can't make it. Period.