>>45188176It was just the Elite Four before Red & Blue came along. They were the first ever trainers to beat the entirety of the Elite Four, that's how new the league in Kanto, and by extension Johto, really is. They don't stick around because they have better things to do and until Gold comes along, there's another 3 years of Lance being in charge (though Koga, Karen and Wil impress him enough to join his posse of trainers).
Alola is even worse and Elio is literally the very first champion of the region ever, and the League was pretty much created for either him or Hau to defeat, the loser likely becoming a kahuna in the future.
In Gen 5, in the span of only 3 years we see how competitive the champion title is with Alder, N, Hilbert, Iris, Rosa and very likely Benga all being more than capable enough of standing at the top of the league.
Galar is overhyped.
