I'm not sure I agree. I think that strength in the Power being a hard limit for each channeler might be something that exists merely because they think it does. But then, that fits my theory posted earlier about weaving saidin or saidar really being an intuitive conceptual interface over the real One Power, which is the power of the Creator, a power based on Will and Thought.

So, in the hour of the apocalypse, arguably the greatest threat any of them have ever or could ever face in their entire lives, perhaps their desperation and will power IS enough to bend reality and cause them to exceed the limits they believed they had.

Rand's lighting of the pipe at the end, written by RJ, fits neatly into the theory that the One Power really is just Will.

I don't think Sanderson's use is necessarily disruptive at all, maybe more instructive. He had the notes, we don't.