I don't see how they could go any higher with those guys; they all enjoyed upper midcard success in WCW. Benoit even won the world title.
WCW main event talent depth at the time was just unfukkwithable. Hogan, Sting, Flair, Savage, Hall, Nash, Giant, etc. etc. and that's just 96-97.
All those guys you listed got plenty of TV time in WCW; if anything they were utilized perfectly. And it's not like any of them main evented right out of the gate when they jumped ship. They had to pay their dues in WWE as well. On top of that, every single one of those guys were far better than virtually all of the midcarders today.