>>42855177Iris only beat Ash in one tournament because the rules pretty much bent in her favor to the point that Pikachu was screwed (electricity wouldn't work, quick attack would do hardly any damage, iron tail wouldn't be effective either).
As for Dawn, that's the thing, she lost to what could account as wild Dragonite. If you really want to use Dragonite, then Sylveon would probably slaughter it.
As for the "rule", it was pretty arbitrary with May and Dawn as that had less to do with battling and more over a ridiculous reasoning (the point system). About Serena, she pretty much faced off against Ash and can straight up copy his style so it's not hard to see she can be at Ash's level. May matched Ash in a contest battle but that that one also pretty much limited Ash's battling since he was losing out in points over "style".
