No Aerials and tricks won't make you a wors fighter. But Wushu forms tend to ezgerrate moves and chage the way it supposed to be done for it to look better.
Wushu's supposed "exageration" comes a great deal from Cha Quan. GLW can explain it very well. A lot of athletes in China don't focus as much on the basics anymore though due to the wonky new requirements that change every year(very strange new difficulties).