There was absolutely nothing wrong with Holmes getting another shot at Showtime. He dropped down a level for failing to win the title and then beat the guy put in front of him in a #1 Contender's match.
Now, it would be my suspicion that the best case plan for Creative was for Holmes to be used to elevate Triple X to a main event match with Showtime at LL and had he won the title, perhaps Holmes would have been in the box seat as XXX's first challenger. At the time, it was seen as a great move to test Triple X so we cannot start second guessing it just because it might not have ended up with a new challenger. Anyway, as a back up plan goes, Holmes getting that shot and then winning the title is hardly a bad one, especially as it has given us heel Celeste and the Holmesian Triad, even if I think that more should have been made of them.
Might this title switch have been better happening at a different time of the calendar so Holmes could get some more heat on him as champion? Perhaps but with the edge of competitiveness in e-fedding, timing is always liable to be thrown off.