I don't agree with this.
First of all, there's nothing saying Ash *has* to defend his title. And I don't think a trainer can be forced to defend their title in the first place.
Cynthia did this in DP however. We saw at least 2 or so title defense matches at that time. She had one with Aaron and another with Flint in the last episode of DP (and clearly this is a defense match of the title since the Sinnoh league wasn’t happening yet in either case).
Granted, it’s not the PWC, but the point I’m making still stands. We know title defending matches exist in-universe, so it would feel pretty awkward to have them for regional champions but not the world champion, especially if anyone around the world can challenge Ash for the title at any time and not have him tied to a specific region (so he can still journey and do whatever he wishes but still battle).
And naturally, being forced to defend the title whenever the tournament isn’t happening should be a thing as it gives people opportunity to claim it.
And from a story point of view it can make for an interesting plot depending on how it’s done. For instance, in shows like Beyblade Burst, Valt Aoi spent a lot of his time as champion doing title matches in Turbo, allowing us to see old characters make returns to fight him. They could do the same here with Ash and have characters return again or have characters that didn’t participate in the PWC this time come back for official battles, like Wallace, Paul, Brandon, Palmer, maybe even Hop once he develops his strength more, etc etc.
Second of all, Ash's goal was never to become the Monarch nor do I think he has much interest in defending that title (Ash doesn't care about those kinds of things).
I never disagreed. My earlier point was just explaining that the PWC is an anime original concept and not something adapted from the games, so it can have its own rules to make title matches unlike leagues where the leagues in the anime aren’t 1:1 with leagues in the games but still follow a clear set of rules in some capacity like the games.
Ash's goal and reason for participating in the PWC in the first place was to fight Leon and potentially defeat him. That goal has now been fulfilled, and Ash got the winner's trophy to commemorate that victory. That's why I don't see Ash partaking in the PWC for the second time, and I think he'd rather move on to something new than redoing the PWC again and again.
I somewhat don’t agree with this. Like I said, I never disagreed on Ash having the PWC as a goal he was interested in from the get go, we know he didn’t. And we know he entered to face Leon.
That said, I don’t exactly see why Ash as he is now would lose interest in doing the PWC again. Unlike the leagues which are region specific tournaments, the PWC isnt tied to any specific place. It’s a worldwide competition, so Ash doesn’t have to return to any place to partake in it. He can go wherever he wants at any time, Paldea, any new region, and still participate.
And for all intents and purposes, the PWC
would in fact be something new each time, since it would include every new region that’s added in each Gen. For instance, if Ash continues on to Paldea, and they recycle the PWC again, they can include Paldea in the championships now. And that alone offers up a lot of new stuff to change the game up. Terastallizing as a new mechanic, new Pokémon, new trainers, new strategies with the added mechanic, and ofc a new champion that could potentially be even more of a threat than Leon was. Ash incorporating terastallizing into his teams, bringing countless different possible variations with type changing, especially if deciding to use reserves that time around.
Not to mention evolving the PWC to be better developed this time to learn from JNs mistakes.
And then? Rinse and repeat this formula. The region from Gen 10 and their new mechanic, Gen 11, etc.
As long as Pokémon continues with a new gen, theoretically, the PWC can literally incorporate something new each and every time as it’s that flexible of a goal.
Of course I’m not suggesting the PWC should stay forever and just not ever make something new up, but the PWC most definitely has the potential to overstay it’s welcome more than once.