Leonhart
Imagineer
Hanto said:Tournaments that used for Ash companions and rivals are good ones, such as Whirl Cup, Tag Tournament, Don Battles etc. Let Ash shine in another episodes and give battle record to his friends. Iris and Cilan did amazing job in BW tournaments, while Sophocles and Mallow got undeserved evolutions and will achieve Z-crystal and bracelets for nothing
I do think SM needed a tournament in its first year to give Maamane and Mao something to do outside of fillers, and Hau could've debuted back then as Satoshi's main tournament rival.