I think what could have helped would have been to have an established heel like TBK win the tournament by heelish means over a guy like Perkins, then have the loser chase the title for a bit. They are telling a decent story for Kendrick right now, I think if they would have played that up during the CWC and had him win by cheating, because he knew it was his last chance, it would have helped a bit.
I loved the CWC, but I did take issue with the fact that most of the guys had the gimmick of, hey I'm 205 pounds and I'm just happy to be here.