I think it's just an effect of over-anticipating news. When there is so little news regarding something so anticipated, we over analyze whatever we can get and try to apply it.
I think the same situation applies to the Lip's Stick item confirmation. It's truly a small update, and only a very minor barrier to her being playable. But because it is the only news we have, we inflate its impact. The way I see it, how is Lip as a playable character bearing her signature weapon despite it also being an item any more bizarre than Lip as an Assist Trophy bearing the Lip's Stick when it is also a seperate item? Unless one insists that that item means she won't appear in the game at all, which I must say would be ridiculous, considering that even characters like Dr. Wright and "Devil" are making it ...