The top player in each region is considered the Gym Leader. Other top players in the region can challenge the gym Leader to a bo5 set to take control of the gym. Once every three months (per player), a lower skilled player can challenge the gym leader to a battle for a badge. They will play a set with each game starting at 6 stocks, but the gym leader must SD his first two stocks so each match starts 6 stocks to 4 (to make it more obtainable of a goal). If the challenger wins, he gets a badge, and he can then go on to challenge other gym leaders at nationals or nearby regionals that they travel to. We can have challenge sign ups or something before nationals so gym leaders aren't having to play 100 people in a single weekend, but gym leaders will also be limited to the number of challenges they can decline on a regular basis (no ****ing Giovanni's 3-month taking a vacation).
You can also expand this layout on either end. Gym leaders can appoint 1-3 gym trainers that have earned badges, but cannot yet beat the gym leader himself. There wouldn't necessarily be any reward other than pride, but I know most newer players are fine with that. If you lose to a gym trainer 2 times and finally beat him, that's proof of your progress, which gives you more hope that you can one day beat the gym leader, and maybe other gym leaders, and eventually the Elite 4!
On the top end, you can have the Elite 4 + Armada (Adam mother****ing Oak) as a challenge for top level players. They will have to beat all 5 players in 5 individual games in a row, but they will be allowed to pick what stage each match is played on out of the 6 legal stages (because having to be the best in the world for a pride match to be relevant is dumb).