Rauch at the time blamed "Matessa" fans for the stagnancy of the couple, but the problem is even if their fans hadn't been so vocal, the story would have always been about Matt cheating on Vanessa with Dinah or some other woman. It would have been degrading.
Wheeler and Kreizman did pull that trigger years later, when many of the fans were gone. I only watched a little of it - namely the Vanessa and Dinah confrontation (which was pretty good - Gina and Maeve worked well together) - but I'm so glad that I got my Vanessa and Billy endgame.
Vanessa was generally written as so numbed and cookie cutter under Rauch, and dressed that way too. Ditto for Laibson's run. Say what you will about all the mistakes of Wheeler, I thought Vanessa was styled much more closely to what suited her character, and the character felt more like Vanessa to me, rather than a stand-in.