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To be honest, a lot of today's guys get a much longer life cycle than their counterparts of yesteryear, and coupled with much more frequent televised appearances means that these guys are hugely overexposed and exhausted by the time they leave the company.
Think of an upper mid card guy from the Hogan era. Let's go with Ted DiBiase as an example. Debuted in 1987, gone in 1993. 6 years. Seemed like a lot longer, huh? That's around half the tenure that Edge has had thus far in the company.
Okay, let's try someone else. The dominant tag team of the late 80s? Demolition. Formed in 1987, gone by 1991. They existed for four years. Big Bossman? Debut = mid 1988. Gone = early 1993. Less than 5 years. About a third of the tenure Bob Holly had with the company.
And this was with just a couple PPVs per year. But it seemed like these guys were around for much longer, and contributed much more, than todays guys. I think Vince is loathe to release people who were useful at one time in case they make a difference to the opposition or simply because 'what worked once will work again'.
Rick Rude. 1987 - 1990. Three years. Around a quarter of the time Val Venis spent under contract.
Earthquake. 1989-1993. Four years. About a third of the time that Triple H has spent just main eventing. And he had main event and midcard heel runs and a successful championship tag team run in that time.
Diesel 1993 - 1996. Or, half the time John Cena has been main eventing.
Things were fresh because guys came in, got over, had a three or four year run in various differing roles, then moved on.
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