>>55584531Ash was retarded because he put his faith into overpowered "Ace" that failed him on multiple occasions Would he chose to use something else (like the damn Muk that for all purposes was an untouchable tank), there's fair chance he could win.
The entire purpose of that moment was to highlight that Ash is still a greenhorn trainer with no control over his own Pokemon and little understanding of what the fuck he's doing. Also that Charizard has one hell of an arc to have on his own before he will trust Ash.
I'll argue that it would be actually fucking worse for Charizard to just decide to fight. Ash would be cemented as infallible Gary Stu that is handed victories and Charizard would be stuck in "He's a jerk that don't listen Ash unless it's convenient for him" limbo.
Ash needed to get rude awakening and Charizard needed to fail him at the peak of hype.
