Would a fair conclusion be that while Fury went off the rails Joshua cleaned up a bit, but the Wilder spectacle never materialised (blame whoever you want).
Warren and Fury took a big gamble in taking the Wilder fight and it paid off big time, and then he goes and knocks him out second time round to propel himself back up to his standing at the top table.
Hindsight is easy, but Hearn and Josh must be ruing the Wilder fight never happening after all the back and forth, seeing him dismantled by Fury, AJ could have been the full unified champ without having to take Ruiz and that bad loss, and this debate wouldn't even be happening!

I think as it's turned out Fury is seen as the man at the top due to how he beat Wilder while the Ruiz loss damaged Josh's standing somewhat.