By Richard Gardner, Torch specialist

Currently, there seems to be willingness from WWE management to promote new stars. In the absence of Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and The Undertaker, WWE has attempted to elevate the likes of Wade Barrett, R-Truth, Jack Swagger, and Sheamus to varying degrees of success. The plight of Evan Bourne illustrates some of the flaws in their approach.

Bourne teamed with Randy Orton to defeat Edge and Chris Jericho on Monday night's Raw and the match ended with Bourne scoring the victory via pinfall. In theory, he should have benefitted as much from teaming with Orton as he did from pinning Chris Jericho, but that was not the case. Orton ended up turning on Bourne for no reason in particular, catching him with the RKO. It was a microcosm of the counterproductive manner in which Evan Bourne and the rest of the mid-card have been booked.

That is not to say that Evan Bourne is ready for the main event. There has been barely an attempt made to develop Bourne's personality in-between these stop-start pushes beyond his portrayal of a plucky underdog. It is a shame because the audience reacts to his high-flying in-ring style every time he wrestles. But constantly being involved in short matches with minimal mic time has not helped Evan Bourne's cause.

The biggest problem for Evan Bourne is reflected across the rest of the roster - management indecision. Wrestlers winning one week and then being squashed a week later. Sheamus rose to the main event in short order by winning matches every week. Surely, the logical approach would be to apply the same logic when pushing other wrestlers, but unfortunately this has not been the case.

For every Sheamus, there are five Evan Bournes - midcard wrestlers who are forever banging their head on WWE's glass ceiling. Earlier this year, Bourne was given a program with Jack Swagger, in which he pinned the future World champion. However, the victory was followed up by him getting unceremoniously squashed a week later. After languishing in obscurity for several months, the decision was made to push him again a few weeks back when he teamed with John Cena, which included him pinning Sheamus in a Raw main event. However, as there was little follow-up, it might as well have never happened.

This is not an isolated incident. Kofi Kingston was put over strong in an angle with Randy Orton last winter, but was sent packing to the Intercontinental Title scene in short order. The Miz was destroyed so comprehensively by John Cena last summer and he's still trying to push for a seat at the main event table ever scene. It used to be that a program with one of the top stars was an opportunity for a mid-card wrestler to step up to the next level. Now such a program can set a young wrestler's career back.

WWE has a responsibility to push new talent, if only to protect the future popularity of the company. Yet so many wrestlers have been tainted by the indecision of WWE management that it is difficult for the fans to get behind anyone.

Evan Bourne may seek his revenge against Orton on Monday night or the attack may be forgotten. Either way, does anyone think that Bourne would actually benefit from a feud with Randy Orton?

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