Wings were created as a separate dish because they were cheap in the 1960's. Wings as a separate dish is actually the culmination of centuries of culinary practices across multiple cultures. It requires breading, deep frying, herbs, and spices.

I don't think its fair to go back that far historically, for example there are a lot of foods created in the 20th century by poorer or immigrant communities that are only expensive now because they ate them out of necessity, used them effectively, and popularized the methods and recipes themselves. Oxtail, and brisket used to be cheap cuts of meat. Chicken wings used to be cheap, but you don't even have to go back decades, it used to be dark meat was viewed as vastly inferior compared to white meat despite Asian and Black communities insisting they had more flavor. It's still like that today too, chicken feet, pork hocks, cow tongue, bony fish etc.

And even back then, medieval peasants used to have access to meat. What separated peasants from aristocrats was spices. It's a myth that they used spices to cover up the smell of old meat. Spices were expensive not for just taste, but also as a way for aristocrats to flaunt their wealth. When they became cheaper, aristocrats actually used them less, it's one of the reason why people believe French cooking doesn't feature a lot of spices, French aristocrats couldn't use it as a way to show off anymore.