I love you in a non-ghey way BX, I really do.
I think the whole concept of "Paying dues" is more than a little out of date. Nowadays we don't have the vast territory system that there once was which means that there really isn't many oppurtunities for wrestlers to pay their dues in America.
You can travel to Japan and Mexico of course but not everyone can afford that much less get owrk visas for it.
So you get guys like Orton, Benjamin, Cena, etc. who didn't spend years wrestling in high school gyms in front of 15 fans for shit money. They spend some time in the idnies then get a development contract.
It's unfortunte because the territory system helped round out the younger wrestlers skills.
Well techinically, Shelton Benjamin did wrestle in high school gyms. I mean he's only an AMATEUR wrestler.