"this story... removes any notion that she needed to become Asian-ninja Betsy to be an effective fighter"
How so? She ran, got caught, and would have been killed if not rescued. Sabretooth would have torn her apart. She was no match for him, not even close, and subsequent rematches would prove exactly that.
I do wonder what happened to the CB suit you mentioned, though, and what precluded her taking it up during the "I need a physical upgrade badly!" phase she went through prior to the asian ninja transformation. Does anyone know more?