Top 20 Biggest Flexes in Pokemon

Given that they’d both go on to become bonafide Pokemon Champions, you’d think a full-throttle match between Ash and Iris would be pretty even, right? Well, it might’ve been, if Ash hadn’t brought out the one, the only Charizard. The Kanto fire-type emerges from every attack thrown at it without so much as a scratch. The same cannot be said for Iris’ Dragonite, who nearly goes down after a single, supercharged Dragon Tail. N calls off the battle before it reaches a natural conclusion, but anyone with eyes can tell there’s only one way this would’ve ended: full embarrassment for Dragonite.

Ash has struggled in a lot of Gym Battles over the years. This, however, is not one of those times. Pikachu starts off the three-on-three by one-hit-KO-ing Wake’s Gyarados. Buizel and Turtwig knock Quagsire down after that, forcing the Gym Leader’s ace to enter the fray at a major numbers disadvantage. But, forget taking out all three, Floatzel couldn’t even down a single one of Ash’s Pokemon! To rub sea salt in the wound, it’s Floatzel’s own pre-evolved form, Buizel, who deals the final blow, scoring Ash one of his easiest badges ever. Who knew Gym Leaders could be such pushovers?

A good night’s sleep can do wonders for a trainer, and as it turns out, the same applies to Pokemon! Even though Ash’s Rowlet is facing its fully evolved form in the high-stakes Alolan League, it’s not actually knocked out here. It’s just taking a quick power nap. The disrespect is simply off the charts, and probably stings more than a razor leaf to the face. Especially since it’s warranted. Rowlet took a snooze, woke up groggy, and still managed to knock out Hau’s Decidueye to clinch the win. It’ll take more than a stop with Nurse Joy to patch up a wound like that.

Like every scientist, Mewtwo likes to show off his creations. At first, it seems like a fair enough experiment: it’s three Kanto starters paired up against each of their clones. Only, in this case, the knockoffs surpass the originals, and then some. Venusaur and Blastoise can’t even take a single hit before waving the white flag. Charizard fares slightly better, but even he ends up in a crater on the ground before too long. All three starters lose in a matter of minutes, and all the while, the clones aren’t even winded. If Mewtwo’s goal was to assert dominance, he definitely succeeded.

Let’s be honest, we were all counting the days until Ash could finally wipe that smug look off Paul’s arrogant face. There were a lot of losses along the way, but the payoff made it all even. To set the stage, it’s the quarter-finals of the Sinnoh League, both trainers are down to their last mon, and Ash is using the very same Infernape Paul disregarded as a wee Chimchar. Suffice it to say, Ash’s partner had something to prove, and it used a blazing power-up to do it. Besting Paul is good enough on its own - beating him with a Pokemon he once abandoned? That’s pure poetry.

Sorry, May, not every rival battle can end in a win. Hot off the heels of her fiery bout with Drew, she advanced to the semi-finals of the Grand Festival bursting with newfound confidence… only for Solidad to promptly wipe the floor with her. This being a contest battle, too, Solidad didn’t just destroy May’s team, she looked good while doing it. We only get to see the tail-end of the match, and even that’s enough to know this was a total wash on May’s end. This is the kind of one-sided domination you’d see in the first round, not the semi-finals. No wonder May was so upset.

The only thing worse than losing to a single Pokemon is losing to a single move. Ash simply had no counterplay to Whitney’s Miltank, especially when it started using rollout. One by one, all of Ash’s Pokemon fall to Miltank’s unstoppable roll until Ash has no choice but to run off with his tail between his legs. As you can imagine, this was an extremely humbling point for the Pallet Town native. After all, this was supposed to be a three-on-three, but he didn’t even see Miltank’s other moves, let alone the final member of Whitney’s team!

Is this a Pokemon battle or a horror film? At certain points, it’s hard to tell. It’s all because of Primarina, who apparently never learned the rule that you don’t speak unless spoken to. No worries, though; Guzma’s Golisopod was happy to teach her the lesson with a quick and clean throat chop. From there, all poor, defenseless Primarina can do is slide around the field trying desperately to escape Golisopod’s attacks. We know Guzma’s a part of Team Skull and all, but this isn’t petty crime. It’s total dominance. Lana really should’ve just forfeited from the start; her Primarina never stood a chance.

Throughout the original series, we followed Ash as he struggled, fought, and persevered to get enough Gym Badges to qualify for the Indigo League and, hopefully, take Gary Oak down a few pegs. Come to find out, Gary beat him to the punch, and he doesn’t just have eight measly badges, he has ten! Kanto only has eight official gyms, and this is before he challenged Giovanni’s, so where did the other three even come from? Eh, who cares. The fact of the matter is, even though Gary and Ash began their journey on the same day, the Oak prodigy is running laps around his so-called rival.

Hubris is a tricky thing. One minute you’re top of the world, and the next, you’re facing down a legendary. See, right after Gary flexed his double-digit badge case to Ash, he discovered that earning his eleventh emblem wouldn’t be as easy. To be fair, though, Giovanni totally cheated. Gary did great against average Pokemon, but the Team Rocket boss brought out armored Mewtwo. Even two on one, Gary’s teammates couldn’t get within striking distance of the Psychic-type. Since Oak’s Grandson had ten badges, it’s not like he was a weakling, either. Afterwards, Giovanni claims that Mewtwo is invincible, and based on his debut here, we’re inclined to agree with him.

Power-scaling hasn’t always been kind to Pikachu. So, it’s refreshing when “Pokémon” remembers that Ash’s partner has been training for over a thousand episodes. With all that in mind, it makes sense why a newbie like Hop has no chance of victory, especially with an unevolved Wooloo. That doesn’t stop him from challenging Ash, though. Thankfully, Pikachu wastes no time proving who’s the very best, and K.O.’s Hop’s Wooloo with a single strike. Plus, based on Pikachu’s surprised reaction, it didn’t even mean to win so quickly. That just goes to show that, by the Masters Eight Tournament, Ash and his starter were simply in a different league.

On sheers numbers alone, this Raid Battle should’ve been a breeze. After all, it’s Ash, Gary, Goh, and Horace all teamed up against a single Articuno. And, well, it definitely ends in bitter defeat, just not for the side you’d expect. Articuno’s very first Blizzard attack completely destroys the team’s first line of defense, and things only get chillier from there. Despite them using teamwork, type advantages, and even Pikachu, Articuno’s overwhelming strength turned this Raid Battle into a glorified snowball fight. In the end, Ash and the others had to learn the hard way that they don’t call Articuno a Legendary Bird for nothing.

In Ash’s quest to catch ‘em all, a few partners, like Krabby, were sadly relegated to warming a spot on the bench. So, Misty was understandably concerned when Ash decided to bust out this forgotten crab in the very first round of the Indigo League. But, Krabby soon proved that her hesitation was totally unwarranted. Despite having zero real combat experience, the benchwarmer stomped through every one of Mandi’s Pokémon on its way to a clean three-oh sweep. And, just to rub some sea-salt in the wound, it even evolved into a Kingler in the middle of the fight, too. Now that’s some fishy timing.

Ash has had some extremely tough Gym Battles over the years. Unfortunately, his bout with Wattson is not one of them. While it starts out normal enough, once Pikachu hits the field, it’s lights out for all of Wattson’s team. There’s no back-and-forth, no counterattack, and no time for the Gym Leader to scrounge up his dignity. Worst of all, Ash’s partner had been supercharged by one of Wattson’s own traps, meaning he has no one to blame but himself. Either way, the results are still pretty unanimous. Ash has literally been handed Gym Badges before, and yet, this might still be his easiest victory yet.

No matter how you cut it, losing three-nil in a Pokémon battle has gotta hurt. But, it feels especially disrespectful that Flint used his own Infernape to thrash Ash’s. Along with his Buizel. Oh, and Pikachu, too. Yeah, Volkner puts it best: this fight was pretty much pointless. At least, as far as determining a victor was concerned. From the very start up until the last blow, it was all-too obvious that Flint was simply better than Ash. But, thankfully, Infernape’s red-hot power ignited Volkner’s passion for battling again. It doesn’t make Ash’s loss any less embarrassing, but at least it was for a good cause.

By the time Ash ventured to Johto, he was already a pretty respectable trainer. Enough so that, when the rookie Casey challenged him to a battle, it wasn’t going to be much of a contest. But, instead of going easy on her by using one of his newer teammates, he led with Charizard. Even Brock and Misty agreed it was a pretty cruel move. As expected, the fire-type completely burned through Casey’s team in record time. A victory over a Pidgey, a Rattata, and a Chikorita isn’t anything to marvel at, but the real damage was to Casey’s pride. In fact, Charizard’s flames were so hot that the poor trainer ended up leaving in tears.

It takes a certain kind of hubris to think you can challenge a Regional Champ on a whim. Although, given how prideful Paul can be, it is pretty vindicating to see Cynthia utterly humiliate him on the battlefield. Or, rather, Garchomp does, since that’s the only Pokémon she needs to wipe out his entire team. No matter the moves, no matter the strategy, Garchomp easily sent each of Paul’s partners back to the Pokémon Center. Not only does Cynthia win with just one Pokémon, but she doesn’t ever look particularly concerned, either. So, when someone as cocky as Paul forfeits a match, you know things must’ve looked pretty bleak.

Cassandra’s lowly bug-type Pokémon was in dire need of an evolution. To help, Ash decided to throw a match in order to give Paras some confidence in battle. It was a good plan, but unfortunately, Ash’s newly-evolved Charmeleon didn’t get the memo. Instead of taking it easy, the fire-type burnt the poor Paras into an utter crisp, seemingly for no other reason than to assert dominance. It’s hard to blame the downtrodden bug,since not even Ash himself could quell Charmeleon. In fact, when he did try to reason with his Pokémon, all he got was a flamethrower to the face. Clearly, Charmeleon’s the one who holds the Badges in this relationship.

Apparently, losing to Brandon is a family tradition. The Frontier Brain had already bested Paul’s older brother in the past, and during this ill-advised rematch, Paul couldn’t save himself from a similar six-oh defeat. Actually, Ash’s Sinnoh rival couldn’t even maintain his composure. As Brandon’s lead continued to widen, Paul only devolved into a pouting child, eventually refusing to give orders at all. Brandon didn’t let Paul’s attitude slide, though, and offered the kid some serious tough-love. This is not a pretty fight by any means, but it’s hard to tell who got the worst of it: Paul’s Pokémon, or their trainer.

Against the very best the Sinnoh League had to offer, Tobias made it all the way to the penultimate round with just a single Pokémon. And, even when Ash used one of his most impressive teams to date, he couldn’t beat Tobias, either. In his defense, the Pallet Town hopeful did eventually fell the almighty Darkrai. But, Tobias still had a Latios waiting in the wings to wrap things up. In the end, Tobias would go on to win the whole Lily of the Valley Conference without even revealing two-thirds of his team. With that kind of feat, he didn’t just preen on Ash, he boasted on the entire Sinnoh Region altogether.


What do you think is the most embarrassing performance in a Pokemon League to date? Let us know in the comments below!