I think the Gen 9 champion will be in the Masters 8 it could be perfect for foreshadowing the new region.

Theory: my guess is one of those master 8 is from the Scarlet/Violet region , is it a world wide championship if you think about it. Just my 2 cent input

I feel the master's 8 will do its best to honour each regions. Ash from Kanto, Lance from Johto, Steven from Hoenn, Cynthia from Sinnoh, Iris from Unova, Diantha from Kalos, Kukui from Alola and Leon from Galar. The only one l see changing is Ash repping Alola and Lance repping the indigo league in general. Leaving 1 spot open

These 8 characters are indeed the master 8 I wanna see a lot, especially Steven, Diantha, Cynthia and Ash. I'm not too sure about Paul now as I was because I heard on a channel about Ash meeting Paul in an episode of just for a battle for getting ready for masters 8, but it could've been an April fools joke, so I still hope maybe for Paul. The battle I hope for a lot is Diantha Vs Ash, Lance Vs Ash or Cynthia Vs Ash mostly before Ash goes up against Leon. It's getting me hyped a lot and I'm excited to see what happens especially if 1 or more of the hoped for characters aren't in the masters 8

Paul won't be in the Master's 8. Maybe Ash takes an L, (maybe against Cynthia) gets discouraged and Paul arrives to help reignite Ash's confidence, Ash faces Cynthia in a rematch either to get him into the Master's 8 or is his first opponent

I would love to see Ash bring his strongest team, like Pikachu, Greninja, Charizard, Infernape, Sceptile and someone from Journeys like Lucario

That’s a great top eight!!! I was literally on Luap’s channel/thread saying the exact same thing bro lolol. Nice matchups!! Mmhmm

As Good as an Trainer Paul is I don't see him as in champion level trainer I believe he will be the final battle for Ash to enter into the Master Class.

Prediction for Ash only:

My predictions for masters 8. Ash is for sure going to make it to the masters 8. We don’t know what place. But we do know that he will make it. The other seven of the masters 8, a few has been revealed. Leon is #1, others were lance, raihan, and flint who battled against Leon. We also had confirmations that Cynthia is within the masters 8. That’s 6 people revealed. Now for the other two that has not been seen to battle any one of the 8s. My theory: since flint and Cynthia are in the masters 8, I can say that Lucian is also in the masters 8. Let’s be honest. In the games we see flint, then Lucian, then champion Cynthia. So if this is also part of the world corrination series, Lucian has to be one. My other theory is yes it could be Steven stone, but Wallace took over the champion title and he lost against ash as an unofficial battle. So Steven stone could be a potential. Same goes w diantha but she’s more into her acting career so I don’t think she will be presented in the masters 8. But my last theory, we hear from when Pokémon journey had started and lance was introduced as the elite four in the indigo league in the battle against Leon. Elite fours are not as strong as champions tho. So who’s the champion for the indigo league? Well we got two people. One is a retired trainer who became a Pokémon professor, Professor Samuel Oak. He was indeed a very strong trainer not only in the game but also in the anime. But we hear that he retired as champion, so who could take his spot? And my final guess would be ash’s father. Hear me out. Dehlia (ash’s mom) mentioned to not only professor oak but also to ash that ash’s father was very unique and was a very powerful trainer. This was in the very beginning when ash’s becomes a trainer in the first Pokémon series. Dehlia said and prove me wrong for this “you’re gonna be very strong just like your father was”. It’s not certain that he is champion but imagine if this was the case. It’s either that or we see a multi universal person similar to ash, in which in the games we call him Red. Red can be a potential to travel from mount silver and comes down to the indigo league to defend his title as champion of the kanto and johto regions. Believe it or not, I want to see that fight to happen. But if I had to choose two of the missing masters 8, it would be Lucian and Professor Oak, but if not Professor Oak, it would Ash’s dad

2:37 THEEE ALOHA CHAMPION!!!!!!!!

1st round pairing prediction

I'm not sure Paul is gonna be in the Masters 8 or be in the competition at all, but I wanna hope he is. That said, my predictions are that neither Diantha or Steven is in the competition (even though It could perfectly make sense since they both appeared very recently in the anime). I think the member of the Masters 8 who will be kicked out by Ash could never be revealed and so the battles could be:

There is nothing to worry that Ash will make it into the finals or not because almost every trailer showcases a battle between ash and Leon. So who ever may be in between Ash will definitely end up into the finals. And if he is defeated there then it is a very good feat being the second best trainer in the world......

I think Tobias will never show up in the anime again, that was a character created for that league as an excuse to make ash to loose without hope!

Leon, Lance, Steven, Cynthia, Diantha, Gen 9 Champion, Ash and Iris.

Hope master 8 represent eight regions

For me there's 2 options, either the last member isn't reveal and Ash just quicks this person out when he enters the master class.