"fresh competition" is a cope for having lesser waifus who can't break bracket to compete. there are 128 competitors each year with only one winner at the end, and no amount of reactionary rules revisions would help the unworthy get to the E8, much less the crown. even if you add an extra 128 competitors or bench the sweet 16, that's still half of the competition becoming losers and getting knocked out by sweet 16 material, and we'd end up having the same complaints.

I've been seeing these changes discussed seriously since 2021, possibly by the same people. If your waifu couldn't get in then, she has absolutely no hope now. That's simply how this competition works.