It would be exceptionally bad writing by Oda at this point
It is lol, kaido lost without using awakening.
Oda said a big punch wouldn´t be enough to beat kaido, but that´s exactly what happened. Gear 5 luffy was getting DOMINATED by a tired and beaten kaido, oda took bajrang gun out of his ass and made luffy win a power struggle despite losing most of his fight against kaido lol.
The end of wano is INDEED very bad writing from a fighting perspective, the fight should have gone for a lot longer in order to make luffy´s victory believable.
Not to mention 68yo linlin who ate her fruit as a kid and still didn´t have any awakening lol, on top of conviniently forgetting she was able to use conqueror coating.