Pokémon Anime Why Paul was Ash's best rival

[MagellanEnd]

In my opinion, Paul was Ash's best rival hands down. The reason being that Paul was mean to his Pokémon, but he kept beating Ash. This made Ash think he couldn't fully draw out his Pokémon's potential, but Paul could with his cruel training methods. Sadly, no rival since has ever challenged Ash's beliefs like Paul did. Thoughts?

[ElementalCards]

Paul upstaged Dawn in many ways. I personally believe that he really cared about Ash in a brotherly way. Never mind the arguments both had towards each other, he was always on top of Ash’s progress every time.