The problem is not that every top player thinks every event is trash except for a few, the problem is that many top people probably have a different mentality than most.
I'm positive a guy like
@cR WoundCowboy absolutely gives not one iota of shit that someone got top 16 at a tourney outside of Evo or maayyybbe ESL. Even less so when it's a tourney with like 50-60 people; many MK9/IGAU era players think this way. Their expectations for themselves are different, thus their expectations for basing who's good is different too.
Mind you, I don't think this idea is "toxic" at all. At best it's elitist, and maybe a little annoying, but when you are elite you can probably afford a few elitist opinions. The beautiful part is you can always prove to even those guys that you are good if you go out and place enough. It's nothing to get hurt feelings over.