Honestly think it's as simple as Oda wanting to put respect on their name before having them bow out of the race for the OP.
Regardless of how you wanna slice it, in the first place it doesn't really make sense for the threat level of folks that took out a Yonko 2 v 1 to be the same as Luffy who took out one 1 v 1 even more so when the Yonko the latter beat was Kaido of all people.
Oda likes using math jokes for bounties that’s all Luffys kids and laws bounties are:
Luffy + Kid + Law = 9 Billion
Kaido + Linlin = 8.99 billion
The bounties just oda saying the WG thinks these three alone took out the two yonko.
Oda did similar math jokes for Kaidos and Linlins commanders:
Kaido = 4.6 Billion
Calamity combined bounty = 3.6 billion
Big Mom = 4.3 Billion
Sweet Commanders combined bounty = 3.3 billion
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Notice how you didn't disagree with me?
Importance and hype do not equal to strength.
Plenty of characters are more important and hyped than others who are stronger than them.
Yeah turning half of punk hazard into a glacier is strength. Kizaru ain’t done anything remotely as hype as what Kuzan did in matching Sakazuki and what terraforming an island.