Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25360536-20140920031731/@comment-5398287-20140928004058

I highly doubt Ichigo is now "weaker" than he was prior to gaining the true Zangetsu. Yhwach!Zangetsu may have been suppressing the true power of Zangetsu, but he was also giving Ichigo access to a fraction of it in the process in order to give him a "Zanpakuto". Now that he has access to the full power AND has seemingly incorporated his Quincy powers into it, he's stronger. Simple as that.