i actually like this suggestion. perhaps every "skill" win grants the player a skill point, and upon a certain number of skill points they can enter an advanced room where events are hosted and they compete with people with similar skill. This also means you can no longer play in normal skill events until you lose in the advanced rooms.

Example:
Normal Skill events: grants +10 SP per win, lose nothing per loss.
Advanced Skill events: grants +5 SP per win, lose -3 SP per loss.

200 SP required to enter Advanced Skill events (once entered, you will no longer be able to compete in Normal Skill events, until your skill points drop below 75 SP).

Rewards: 500SP = Hat+Melee+2EC, 750SP = Hat+Gun+5EC, 1000SP = Body+Gun+10EC