I was fine with it in theory. Sam was just a good guy and always followed Steve without question. Bucky had all of this tragic past and was compromised. But in the grand scheme of things, Marvel is appealing to specific groups and it gets them a lot of press. If you get new X race, Marvel is applauded thoroughly. Also, overseas dolla bills are bigger outside of the total world compared to U.S. domestic. Look at what they've done to Namor - replaced everything about him. But it might bring so much press and dollars, why not take the risk and not completely follow Aquaman?Yep Bucky literally used the shield in TFA, TWS, and CW! That plus the fact that he is both enhanced and would continue the "man out of time" trope made him such an obvious choice for a successor. Also the "Winter Soldier" is a relatively new moniker in comics and not something that really needs to be preserved unlike say "the Falcon" which has been around for more than half a century.
But then you see FWS. Sam is a normal human and catches a shield coming in at superhuman speed. Doesn't make sense. He gets beat up by Batroc, who Cap handled quickly. The execution isn't there. Bucky can handle it and would be a nice underdog story from villain to Cap. Bucky Cap storyline might be the biggest Cap story from the comics of all time. Sam Cap seems like no big deal when it comes to the comics.