>>48102941>what did those previous trainers knock him out of previously?The League Conference which can qualify you for challenging the Elite Four but I believe this is completely optional since we never hear or see these trainers challenge the E4 and in some cases trainers like Alain blatantly didn't bother.
>In which case, Ash would now be considered strong enough to face the E4?No. Ash was an equal to Tyson back in Hoenn, who won the League Conference. Ash has been capable of challenging the Elite Four since back then and after Hoenn he went back to Kanto and defeated the Kanto Battle Frontier which Agatha and Scott hyped up as being upwards to Elite Four-level in challenge, albeit Ash never fought Brandon's full power team of three Regis.
To quickly summarise the challengers that Anon mentions:
>Tyson won the League Conference and the battle between him and Ash was very close>Tobias' Darkrai went undefeated throughout the entirety of his Sinnoh journey and even the trainer he faced in the Finals couldn't do shit against it but Ash defeated not only his Darkrai but also his Latios, showing Ash is FAR above any Sinnoh trainer except for the Elite Four.>Alain defeated an Elite Four member after defeated a dozen Mega Evolution using trainers in a row, albeit with potions and short breaks between each battle. Ash was depicted as equal to AlainThen in SM, Ash defeated Kukui after becoming Champion. There is no lore in the anime about Kukui but it's worth noting his game counterpart defeated the Kanto Elite Four and only lost to Lance who, in the anime, is the second strongest trainer behind Leon.
Ash defeated Iris who became the Unova Champion (and should be superior to Caitlin who gave Cynthia a good challenge) and Volkner, who is rivals with Flint and spent a year training after regaining his passion. Flint defeated half of Cynthia's team at the end of the DP anime.
Ash has been upwards to E4-level since Hoenn and is something like Low-Champion level now.
