2014 was the first "official" season the judges really started scoring Slater lower, sometimes way lower and his opponents higher than they deserve, that heat against Smith in France is a good exemple of what happened in 2014. 2013's ending at Pipeline was just a glimpse of was would happen the following years and the judges never backed down. 2012 Bells and 2013 world title ending were just the beginning of something way bigger than we thought, stopping KS from winning world title again.
I think that first wave was only an 8.83 because the judges were shocked Parko just busted an air revo 😂 Johns 8.3 had a carve of the same caliber, fatter air and snaps off the top