I think you're definitely being a tad hyperbolic.

I do think mechanically the encounters have scaled quite a bit and rely a lot more on player movement than ever before. To say there was almost no player movement prior to AQ just isn't true.

To say most classes pressed a single button is really just doubling down on the hyperbole though.

Modern MMO's have greatly reduced the amount of buttons and skills people need to micromanage. What was originally a very contentious issue of reducing total number of skills, has more or less contributed to the major QoL improvements that give room for encounters to be more dynamic. Vanilla WoW predates most of that.

As you mentioned, not everyone in a raid could barely contribute. It still required people knowing what they were doing and putting in an effort.