I have never had a wheelie case refused as cabin baggage by VS, so the rule must be very old.
One important point is this, just because a wheelie bag is used, it does not imply the luggage is heavier than say, someone with a holdall. I use a wheelie case whlst travelling on business, to avoid knackering my arms, as often changing flights three times in one day involves a great deal of walking and standing around. My wheelie usually weighs around 7kg max, because I still have to lift it at some point. Any airline refusing a wheelie case would immediately lose my custom.
I accept some pax take liberties with the weight of their hand luggage, but it is completely wrong to assume that all wheelie cases are really heavy, whilst anything else would be ok.
In addition, my wheelie case is actually below the max size guidelines. It's actually smaller than many holdalls.
All we need now is for the lunatics in charge to ditch the stupid liquid nonsense, although that seems unlikely with the newly announced (absolutely bizarre) battery limits just announced by the loonies in charge in the US