No matter how I think about it, unless you're talking a DMC event, it has to be selection & the ability of those selections to hold & entertain a crowd...
Look at Rodigan, dude can't mix to save his life, but his selections... Well, they're well documented to say the least.
Even back in the day in d&b when you had the likes of Ron/JJF/SL/XTC/Bryan G/Fabio/Marvellous Cain/L Double all that 94 - 96 jungle era, the amount of clanging going on with those aforementioned DJ's sets was hideous, but they still got booked out heavily cus the selections they were playing were right up there...
If I'm going out these days, I already have an expectation of what I'm going to get from a DJ in terms of skill vs selection - For example I'd be pissed off if I went to see EZ & he spent an hour introducing tunes then pressing play, wheeling it up into the next one without any of his famous CDJ wizardry... & equally if I went to see Rodigan & he was double dropping reggae tunes 5 tunes a minute, with none of his infamous voiceovers & storytelling...
Its horses for courses innit.