I will be arguing on the side that CM Punk is
NOT the true example of showing that working on the independence scene for so long will pay off when coming to the WWE, and I will go first.
..................................................................................
I am a huge fan of Ring of Honor and all the other popular Indy scenes such as PWG, CHIKIRA, etc. However, working for these places in no way, shape or form helps develop someone into a WWE Superstar.
The fact of the matter is, CM Punk is a rare entity. Did working on the indies and earning himself such a huge name across the scene help him? Sure it did, I'm not going to argue you that, but what I will argue is that he's not an example that working on the indy scene for a long period of time will help you in WWE.
CM Punk officially started with WWE in August 2005. Do you know when he made his television debut? July 2006. That's 11 MONTHS in developmental. ELEVEN! And while I have no hard facts to back it up, I'm willing to bet it was his popularity on the indy scene that kept him held down for so long to begin with.
WWE over the years has developed a style. They literally have their own style of professional wrestling, and it's completely different than the indy scene. In WWE, you must learn how to play to the camera first and foremost... where is anyone going to learn that on the indy scene? In WWE you must learn a formulaic system as far as matches are concerned, whereas on the indies anything goes. In WWE you must work in front of thousands and thousands of people, whereas on the indy scene you're lucky to work in front of 500.
This isn't the territory days where working all across the land will develop you into a fantastic mainstream wrestler. No, today it's all WWE and nothing else. THEY develop their wrestlers the way they want them to be developed; just because you worked on the indies doesn't matter to them... you will still get took down to their developmental territory and learn their way of doing things. How is working on the indy scene going to help one way or another? You look at WWE's top stars over let's say the last 7 years... John Cena, Randy Orton, Jack Swagger, Batista, Sheamus, The Miz, John Morrison, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, etc... all these guys had very little to no experience working on the independent wrestling scene.
Now, let's look at the popular indy names to make it in WWE:
CM Punk
Evan Bourne
Bryan Danielson (maybe)
And that's it. Literally it. Every other person who had a long stay on the indies that got called up were eventually released after a short period of time with very little to no success on television. Take a look at Colt Cabana, for example. He was CM Punk's tag partner for years on the indy scene, and one of the most known popular figures around. He finally signs with WWE not long after Punk's debut on ECW, and look how it went... he got nowhere. A couple of small appearances on television, and boom... cut just like that. If working on the indy scene so long "helped" Punk so much, then why didn't it help someone like Colt Cabana, who is every bit as talented?
I'll answer that... it's because working on the indy scene has absolutely no bearing whatsoever whether or not you're successful in WWE. That's an indisputable fact.