>>55138605They abolished the rule because the ensuing backlash from Ash losing the Kalos league was immense, bigger than anything they were expecting. They seriously didn't consider the consequences of developing and propping up a spin-off character to be a fitting rival for Ash to beat and become champion, only for him to win and make Ash lose another league in the end.
Ash losing Kalos was just one of thr many bullshit contrivances created to justify letting the anime go on for 10 more years, when the whole thing should have ended decades ago. It ended just as it became not as useful for the brand anymore, after the Pokemon Go craze and Westernization of the brand served as massive free advertising, and the arrival of a completely clean slate Gen Alpha untouched by pokemania nostalgia and with nearly no connection to Ash.
XY being animated as a generic shonen show did not help their case also, people at the time genuinely thought the anime was finally growing up like the fans did and that Ash was becoming more mature, even if that was never the point with the character. They fed the audience bullshit expectations, and delivered even worse bullshit resolutions. The whole league arc in Alola felt like such a groveling apology for the fans, i feel sorry for all the people that watched all the way through.
