

When I heard about the Masters 8 in the _Pokémon_ anime, I was expecting all
the champions from the known regions to go to Galar and have a battle with
each other, with Alain/Alan being the only one to not be a champion and
instead a Kalos league winner.

However, I was quite surprised at how the champion of Hoenn is Steven and not
Wallace. As much as I am a big fan of Steven, and I know that he appeared as
Champion in the XYZ and Mega Evolution specials, I thought Wallace was the
champion of Hoenn. But in the games, the title of champion (for Hoenn
specifically) has been tossed around between Steven and Wallace, in the games
and some other media of Pokémon.

Did Steven take the title of champion from Wallace? Can former champions still
retain their champion titles? Or are they doing this because they have to
continue with the X and Y timeline events and make him Champion?


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2022-06-04T13:51:21.807
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pokemon
Why is Steven representing Hoenn at the Masters 8 tournament and not Wallace?


Steven is the current reigning champion of Hoenn in the anime, because there
has been no news of him being dethroned by anyone. The previous champion was
Wallace (confirmed in Sinnoh during the Wallace Cup arc) but in Kalos, the
Hoenn champion was mentioned to be Steven, so it is plausible that Steven
defeated him or Wallace stepped down. Champions in the anime can be replaced
(Iris replaced Alder, for instance, and Steven replaced Wallace) by trainers
who have defeated the Elite Four and then defeated the current champion (with
reference to Sinnoh, this system was brought up by Lucian). Trainers must earn
the right to challenge the Elite Four by winning the League Conference of
their respective region (eg. Lily of the Valley Island Conference for Sinnoh,
Vertress Conference for Unova), at least this is how it works in Sinnoh and
presumable all other regions with League Conferences so including Hoenn. The
games are separate from the anime so I am not sure why you are confused
between Wallace and Steven being the champion since it seems pretty clear that
the latter is the most recent champion of Hoenn. I hope this helps?


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