they had at least 2 1/2 things in common: their "title", their focus on swords, and their desire to be defeating...which pretty much summarizes dugu qiu bai.
i don't see why the "ROCH" dugu qiubai had placed internal energy above techique. who knows what his "wooden sword" and "no sword" stage really refered to? i doubt even JY knows himself
secondly, even JY did not place internal energy above technique. don't forget, even though YG believe that "brute force + heavy iron sword" can almost be invincible, he still thought night and day over how to weild the sword, which strokes work better than others. that shows technique (no matter how simple) is highly essential even in the pressence of great power.