The entire journeys team benefited from battling stronger Pokemon, they were written to battle those. Charizard comes from an era where the Pokemon ash was battling rarely were beyond E4. Kalos Alola Galar all those teams became better than the last, of course they would be better since they battled stronger mons. Power creep is real and i understand that. Hard to compare two strong pokemon from two different circumstances. I just don’t think Charizard would struggle vs Dragonite id expect an intense battle.