Because Cyc is not seen as having been successful, so comparing a new project to it implies that Abstract Wikipedia won't be successful either. And, of course, all new approaches in each discipline fail, until sometimes they start succeeding.
Cyc got hyped for while in the early 90s. It became apparent, however, that rule-based wasn't going to play as big a role as ML in the future of AI research. It still exists, but the company is really secretive, and hasn't released anything viable in years.
[edit: I wasn't alive back then, so most of what I know comes from the Wikipedia article and a recent HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21781597 . My view of Cyc probably comes across as slightly negative. Their (Cycorp) view seems to have evolved since then, and they seem to be creating some really interesting stuff.]