Hm... Hoennshipping eh? Well, like Dark Wheezing said, the games and the anime are much different, so I have differeing opinions there. ^^
In the games, I think May and Brendan make a good pair. I never really cared for Brendan's rival skills in the game though (I played as May). He just sort of dissappears after a while, and Wally's the one you have to defeat before the Elite 4 (if I remember right, haven't played my Ruby game in a while ^^;). As I played through the game I kinda felt that Brendan wasn't the snotty, rude rivals of the other games but actually was more like a friend to May. So yeah, I think it could most certainly work there.
In the anime... there really is no Brendan. There's no May moving to a new town, there's no starting out with Brendan, and there's not even a mention of him beyond the ones you already stated. Do I think he should have been included? Yes. I think they should have included Wally as well. However, because May decided to be a Coordinator instead of a trainer, the same rivalry wouldn't be there. Brendan doesn't look like the kind that does contests. ^^; Wally might, but he wanted to be a trainer.
I think it's pretty lame that the pokemon producers bring in May and don't bring in the other main characters from R/S at least as once in a while cameos. It would give Ash perhaps another Richie-like person to strive to beat. And maybe a rival besides the odd-looking Masamune (was that his name...? XD). Not to mention, it would give a chance to be a bit more like the games, something I think many of the pokemon fans find a bit frustrating....
