Yet people will still ignore that to discuss particulars.
I don't want to come across as too self-important (like I always do), but suggesting this game or that game: is a waste of time, and doesn't further the discussion at all. All competitive games - meaning, any game predicated on players being opposing forces and not cooperative forces - can and will develop a competitive barrier of entry if there are lucrative incentives driving players to compete.
Street Fighter series, Marvel Series, Guilty Gear Series, Smash Bros. series, Tetris, Soulcalibur series, MTG, Rock Paper Scissors, Tic Tac Toe, Jax, Football, Baseball, Basketball, Cup-Stacking, Spelling Bees, Curling, Jump Roping, Pog, Dice, Dominoes, Concentration, Go Fish... I could go on and on...
...all of these games have niche competitive scenes that have developed complexed systems of winning that would be both observable and unobservable to the untrained eye and have made into veritable sports to a minority.
Of course, outside the obvious 3, the average person would not even consider viewing most these games as sports, because they aren't funded by large corporations, turned into leagues and planted into a country's consciousness as a norm through exposure, through schools and advertising.
The OP's problem is one of the biggest facing the genre, IMO: how do we get people to embrace these games and enjoy them without feeling inadequate due to their increasing exposure to enthusiasts? If we can agree Fighting Games haven't gotten much less intuitive, fundamentally, since their inception: we should be able to agree that the average person had no problems embracing them during their explosion in the 90s.
This affliction doesn't seem to effect RTS and FPS crowds and I believe this is due to the robust Single Player offerings those genres have attached them - something fighting games have yet to establish.
I believe it truly is similar to social stratification in a broader society. Social stratification breeds feelings of inadequacy, self-contempt and hopelessness in individuals in a society that cannot meet it standards and is given a sense of permanence because it is institutionalized. The source of their discontent goes unchecked, because they've failed (for myriad reasons) to analyze and internalize the potential source. Obviously, the Fighting Game Community - encompassing all those who play fighting games, casually or competitively - isn't as institutionalized, but it seems to breed the same neuroses-like behaviors.