From 2003 onwards, The Undertaker decided he didn't want to do house shows. Bear in mind he was still only 38 and had only been with WWE for thirteen years at that point, so he was near enough in the same situation that John Cena is in now. Can you imagine Cena ever deciding he didn't fancy working smaller shows? Taker took a vastly reduced schedule and had things pretty much his own way from 2003. His rarity of appearing helped to make him a special attraction in later years, but there was really no good reason for his absence in the first half of that decade. In 2004 Smackdown was struggling and really could have done with using him a lot more. This point goes back to the double standards wrestling fans can have. Hulk Hogan got a ton of heat for only doing big cities in his WWE run in that period, yet The Undertaker was also snubbing smaller towns and no one really said a word.
