>>27875781I'll bite
I thought this might be the time he wins because it looks like Sun/Moon are changing up the format.
Sure if he was just going to another standard gym region I wasn't expecting him to go as champ, because then it would feel strange having the gym leaders pose any threat to him.
But if Alola is going to be what we think its going to be, being the champ of Kalos wouldn't matter. It'd be about the trials, which aren't based on power but, well, whatever they end up being based on. Whether he was champ or not wouldn't have effected his participation or success.
It was the perfect time to have him win big, because they wouldn't have to deal with the ramifications of it. They could just say his challenge of the E4/Diantha was on hold until they fix all the Team Flare stuff thats about to go down and in the mean time he could visit Alola, meet some more pokemon and try out those trials. The novelty of him winning would also have been a media boost too.
Oh well
