Big-Time Multi-Man Matches on free tv-Have they vanished?

[AegonTargaryen]

I was surfing on youtube for some kurt angle interviews and as usual I found dozens of related youtube videos. One of that video was a six-man tag team match featuring The Undertaker, The Rock, Steve Austin versus Kurt Angle, Kane, and Rikishi with HHH as the special referee. Now, this got me thinking.
What's the last time we saw a match of this magnitude with 5 of the most iconic superstars from the attitude era competing on free TV? (I have excluded Rikishi for obvious reasons). There is no doubt that the years 2000-2002 was the time when many momentous tag-team matches would be showcased and featured iconic stars and athleticism that have remained unrivalled to this day. And all of them, on FREE TV- Raw and Smackdown. Examples:-
The rock and edge vs Chris benoit and Eddie Guerrero
Taker vs Benoit vs Angle(Smackdown '03)
Undertaker and Kane vs Kurt angle and HHH
Taker, Kane vs Rock, Austin(Raw before WM 17)
Rock, taker, kane vs Edge, Christian and Kurt Angle
rock vs kane vs taker vs big show vs mankind on Raw from '98/'99 (not sure but its on youtube)
Not only these, there are numerous other triple threat and tag team matches involving these megastars during their prime during arguably the most intense and exciting era of all time.
However, why did all these big-time matches stop ? Can today's generation of wrestlers ever interest us and give us that special feeling as when we loved the future-stars Jericho, Angle, Edge, Guerrero get mixed in tag team and triple threat/fatal 4 against the all-time greats as Austin, Rock, Taker, HHH, Kane?
Finally, how many big-time multi-man matches have you seen post-2002 on free tv? The ones I can recall are:-
Kurt angle and HHH vs Shawn Michaels and Batista(Raw 2005)
Batista and Undertaker vs John Cena and HBK(No way out rematch)
Taker, Batista(?), Shawn Michaels, Cena vs MVP, Mr Kenndy, Edge, Randy Orton
Goldberg, Shawn Michaels, Rob Van Dam(or was it Maven?) vs Evolution(Raw '03)
John Cena and a newly turned face Randy Orton vs Batista and Jack Swagger(Well, sure Swagger cannot be considered a part of a big-time match with these 3 monster of stars but as the new World heavyweight champion, he was quite believable and credible. It's a shame they had to ruin him just because he lacks mic skills. Otherwise , Swagger was the biggest deal athletically, since Kurt Angle and could well have been the 6-ft-5 monster version of the Wrestling Machine Kurt Angle).
A few tag team matches from the era with the greatest raw roster in 2004/2005(Edge, Benoit, Jericho, Orton, Batista, HHH, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair)

 

[ajdb]

Um...I'm not sure if I understand what you're asking but I have 2 thoughts:

1- Attitude era guys are getting older so only a PPV payday would off-balance the risk of injury.

2- There are fewer "stars" today with so WWE doesn't want them over exposed on free TV.

 

[ASKane]

To put a match like that together with current talent you get Cena, Punk and Batista vs Orton, Lesnar and ADR. That is WWE's top 3 faces vs heels based on how I think they are booked and to be honest that match sucks because there is no star power because every guy is atleast 3 years past his peak and that is the biggest problem in current WWE. There is no main eventer who has not peaked yet they are all past their prime and that means if they did a match like this no one would care. Cena and Orton are the number 1 face and heel and anything they do as proven by Royal Rumble fans don't care about them whether they are feuding or nowhere near each other they are staller than a loaf of bread that was brought in 2002 when they debuted. Punk has lost his edge due to injuries and the business taking its toll on him. ADR was never over despite being talented he is just boring. Lesnar is a part timer so no one really cares as much as they did in his first run and the same goes for Batista. So basically this mega star match featuring over guys that fans are interested in will never come featuring current main event talent but is happening when the Shield fight the Wyatt's at EC, that is the closest you will get to that because the current tp stars of today were the top stars as 5 years ago and as a result a match with them in it just doesn't have that epic feel like the matches you described in the OP

 

[AegonTargaryen]

To put a match like that together with current talent you get Cena, Punk and Batista vs Orton, Lesnar and ADR. That is WWE's top 3 faces vs heels based on how I think they are booked and to be honest that match sucks because there is no star power because every guy is atleast 3 years past his peak and that is the biggest problem in current WWE. There is no main eventer who has not peaked yet they are all past their prime and that means if they did a match like this no one would care. Cena and Orton are the number 1 face and heel and anything they do as proven by Royal Rumble fans don't care about them whether they are feuding or nowhere near each other they are staller than a loaf of bread that was brought in 2002 when they debuted. Punk has lost his edge due to injuries and the business taking its toll on him. ADR was never over despite being talented he is just boring. Lesnar is a part timer so no one really cares as much as they did in his first run and the same goes for Batista. So basically this mega star match featuring over guys that fans are interested in will never come featuring current main event talent but is happening when the Shield fight the Wyatt's at EC, that is the closest you will get to that because the current tp stars of today were the top stars as 5 years ago and as a result a match with them in it just doesn't have that epic feel like the matches you described in the OP

Exactly. That's what I thought too. But The Shield VS Wyatts doesn't have that feeling of multiple singles stars being in a multi-man match-ups which I posted in my original post . Firstly, they're perceived to be whole units(though not shield that much anymore) fulfilling their own functions and roles. Secondly, even when Evolution was a unit, we felt that magnitude of stardom involved in multi-man tag matches they participated in. Flair, HHH, and Orton and Batista just waiting to carve their own niche. We wouldn't get such a big-time feeling in other factions, say Dx(with new age outlaws), or Nation of Domination, Wyatt Family, 3MB, etc. Moreover, The shield's players all seem to be future singles stars and potentially main-eventers but Wyatts do seem like Bray Wyatt(future WWE champion? ) and 2 of his minions. Does anyone perceive those 2 fellows to be singles stars anytime soon? Consider Raw before Backlash '04. Everything was amazing. The main-event could sell a MSG and could last an hour, and should've been done twice. Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels, Benoit, and Shelton Benjamin against all four members of Evolution.
If WWE really cared, we would've at least gotten some of the part-timers involved in big-time main events on Raw(although it'd be rare). Imagine a heel CM Punk and The Shield vs The Rock, Orton, Cena , Sheamus or Big Show(all babyfaces) leading to Rumble or Elimination Chamber in '13. The closest we got was John Cena and The Rock vs The Miz( Really? f'n really?) and R-truth(R-Jobber) at Survivor Series in '11 being a fucking warm-up match for the rock. This match was not even good enough for a Raw considering the other two participants. And then they expect people to buy survivor series!!. The only way many more people would've bought it is if it'd be The Shield vs Rock and Cena(in '11 or whenever). Imagine the intensity with Reigns and Rock battling it out alone in the ring.
As for the full-timers being mixed in the tag team bouts, we don't even get that. Someone like Jack Swagger shouldn't be so underutilized as he is. (Being over is over-rated. The guy wrestles like Kurt Angle, though he may not be that great). Had the WWE allowed themselves to create stars, even Damien Sandow(Somewhat of an Edge-ish heel, with a Renaissance man gimmick) and Jack Swagger vs John Cena and Orton/Batista could then have felt BIG-TIME.
What are your thoughts? Whom else do you think WWE could use from their current roster of talents to mix into multi-man matches in TV main events? Dolph Ziggler? Cesaro? (Don't say Wyatt Family or Daniel Bryan).