So, I agree generally with every other point you made, but this one caught my attention: when was this NOT the case with NRS MK games? Everyone at the competitive level has used characters the exact same way since MK9. You saw cage doing frame traps into restands. You saw Sonya using armored reversals into safe pressure into armored reversals. Kenshi zoned, then occasionaly did a combo that pushed you fullscreen. Cyrax was reset into 80% combos. Kabal was NDC pressure inbetween gas blast zoning.
Same with Rekkas Tanya, Acidic Alien, Bat and Sorcerer Quan Chi, Demo Sonya, Grandmaster sub, Flash Parry into Pressure Tremor in MKX.
Same thing with Cetrion. Same thing with Jade, Kang, Air Kabal.
Every single one of the past MK games, characters would play the exact same game at high levels.
There wasnt a zoning cage in MK9 or a stagger into mixup Kenshi. There wasnt a non-reset Cyrax. Every character eventually boiled down to their respective most effective tactic available gameplay, and different people playing the same character did not differ significantly in style at all.