I'm sick of this revisionist history with ash in Kanto where people say most of his gym battles were pity wins. I'd say two of them are pity wins and even then one of them was a tie but he won the rest fair and square.
Everyone always brings up Brock and the sprinklers but people always forget that the ash was winning that fight without the sprinklers the only reason he didn't finish the fight was cause Brock's siblings held ash back. Ash was 100% winning that fight with misty she didn't knock out a single pokemon on his side Butterfree doesn't count he fell in the water and couldn't get out that doesn't mean shit. Pidgeotto slapped starmie once and it fucking fainted. even if team rocket didn't interfere he still would've won I think even Misty's sisters said so