I gotta say Tobias is actually the strongest Champion. I mean Tobias is the champion of the Sinnoh region in the anime (and this thread is in the anime section), just as Ash is champion of the Orange League and Tyson of the Ever Grande Conference.
Tobias uses legendaries. This is the anime. Like it or not, Tobias has quite some skill. And experience, mind you, as he was able to catch and train legendary Pokemon. The anime isn't like the games where legendaries are only available once, if that, and their use is forbidden in most competitive play. If anything, as we kind of see with Nolan and Brandon the trainers who were able to befriend/catch the legendaries become legends in their own right as well. Tobias has at least two legendaries. One alone is quite a feat, but you can tell Tobias has been around when he has two.
I don't see Tobias as a cheater. The only time that I think cheating was accurately portrayed in the anime was with Dr. Yung and the mirage Pokemon special. Tobias doesn't use any moves that are abnormal to the legendaries.
I actually tend to think of Tobias not as some n00b who challenged a bunch of young kid in a league that was well below his, but as an uber trainer. Yes, an uber. Why was he participating in the Unova league? He probably has spent years in training and hiding to catch and raise his Pokemon. And somebody can't just go in and enter the recently-mentioned Champion League without having some sort of background now, can they? Tobias has to begin somewhere. The Sinnoh League was probably the closest to where he was at the moment or closest in time. He didn't have to do much to qualify for the league (earn 8 badges, he defeated all the gym leaders with his Darkrai alone). He didn't seem at all worried with the competition in the tournament. What I'm trying to get to is that he wasn't there for the trophy (but the trophy was nice), but rather the opportunity to face the elite four, Cynthia, and then hopefully get enough attention to enter into the Champion league. Now that's a professional trainer there.
We really haven't heard much about the Champion league. I believe the only few mentions were towards the end of the Sinnoh saga and by Trip. I have this faint idea that because Pokemon has gone as long as it has gone for, Pokemon is starting to plan a lot more ahead in production. Will we get to see the Champion League? I think so. When is more of the question. I don't expect to see any kind of massive change or closure in Pokemon until it reaches its 12th generation. Pokemon has pretty much confirmed that the fire starters are based upon the Chinese Zodiac, so we're probably in for grass-fire-water starters up until at least the 12th generation. The Sinnoh League was the perfect time to start up rumors of an ultimate, global Pokemon Tournament. The Sinnoh saga lasted for what seemed like forever, all gym leaders and elite four members had high prominence in the anime, and Paul was the most serious rival Ash has had yet. We don't know much about it yet, but what we do know is that Cynthia sees that both Ash and Paul have the composition of a champion and expects their rivalry to meet again there (huh, didn't somebody else predict that two rivals would meet up in the grandest tournament, Zoey?). The Sinnoh saga introduced two key aspects to the Champion League: the existence of ubers like Tobias (and Ash, for a "rookie" based upon his age, fared very well against), and the existence of such a league. While I don't expect it to be brought up often (and I'm surprised that it's been brought up so much in this past season by Trip), I do expect more information on the league to be dropped over time as Ash becomes more and more qualified for the league. I'd imagine that eventually Ash will begin winning regional leagues and start the difficult task of attempting to defeat all four of the elite four members and the champion of their league. I don't think that will be until generation 8 or 9 where we may be beginning on another new continent as we did with Unova, but still it is something that would show how Ash grows as a trainer.
