In WCW's defense, the WWF was killing them in the ratings, and attendance was dropping. They had to do something to shake things up, so bringing up new guys before they may have been ready was really the only recourse they had. What were they going to do, push Buff & Lex?
Both of those guys are perfectly fine for use in the midcard. They're certainly many times better than Kenzo, Tomko, Mordecai.
As for the Bashams, I know Doug had been in OVW for a while. Maybe someone can confirm, but I'd guess around 5 years combined WWF/OVW service?
I'd agree with this, though:
It's no coincidence guys like Matt Morgan, Nathan Jones, Heidenreich, Suzuki, Tomko, etc. didn't/haven't been well received despite getting good amounts of TV time. While the crowd may not be 100% geared up for technical masterpieces in the ring, they're certainly not as willing to accept "ME BIG! ME SMASH!" guys as they were in the past.