I don't agree with "anyone can win" though. If that was the case we wouldn't have the same people placing in top 32 every single tourney.
Yeah, I don't agree, either. They're just complaining that things that gave them an edge no longer exist so they aren't as consistent. Which is a reasonable criticism but that doesn't mean that the game is skill-less.
And before anyone says "then why not just make it harder to play so there will be more consistency with who wins what" the logical conclusion to that would be a game where every link is a 1f link and combos go on forever. There certainly would be a few dozen freaks of nature who would love it but I don't think it would have a healthy playerbase.
Gameplay wise, I think you just need to find ways to appease players either end of the skill spectrum as long as these appeasements don't impact the opposite side. An example is autocombos in fighters. A casual isn't going to blow up a pro with autocombos so they shouldn't care. That shit will only negatively impact people that aren't good but aren't garbage.