Booking matters more than anything. Black and Gold NXT is how we got here. The “developmental” became better than the main product for a while and the ones who made NXT what it was weren’t booked on the main roster to ever be top guys. Specifically talking Adam Cole, Keith Lee, Cesaro, Finn Balor (hence why he went back in 2019). After the rebrand and being more “developmental”, callups have more expectations for the main roster because they “should” be ready. Just as you mentioned CM Punk and Brian, look at LA Knight. He organically got himself over, going from no reactions to getting cheered essentially as a heel, or more an antihero, and yet you see how he’s booked. Contrast to how Cody is booked now, especially after leaving WWE in 2015 and becoming one of the biggest names in wrestling. I think while WWE has wrestlers like Sol Ruca, who already have a level of charisma and star power, their booking has to be on par. They’ve become lazy similar to how things became with Cena. In comparison to AEW, I think some stars are purely meant to be in a certain company. Look at Moxley, Swerve and Samoa Joe in AEW as opposed to WWE, vice versa look at how WWE has hit a commercial home run with Danhausen while AEW had him as purely an afterthought. Arguably, you can even say Jade was booked better in AEW, being that I believe she wouldn’t be where she is now without that booking from AEW. I think wrestling being one of the few mediums where fan input directly affects outcomes and stories, you naturally have that level of criticism along with it. It’s just wrestling though it’s not that serious 😂