alright let's see..
The only reason(I think) the gym leader thing isn't working is because challengers have to wait Days to get a match.. which isn't very encouraging really, either because the leaders are MIA or simply don't want to battle(even tho they are in the chat).
Now as for this new Idea thing:
System: Battle tower.
Description: Name should explain itself... but to elaborate a bit, each player takes 3 pokes to battle other players, if a player reaches a certain amount of consecutive wins(doesn't have to be 7), that player gets a recognition(could be a prize or w/e)
Rules: player must use the same 3 pokes(with the same poke as lead in all battles) until he/she reaches the amount of consecutive wins mentioned above. a player cannot face the same player twice during this period.
there it is, I can already see a huge problem with this, but I'm taking this as a brainstorm thread so...
Edit: I can elaborate more on this if I'm asked to.