They still happened, not all, but many of them. For example Vegeta remembering Tuffle's ki in GT when the race was wiped out almost entirely before he was even born, which hints the Hatchijack thing happened. The two aliens that appeared in the broly movie do debut in the Z anime iirc.
Look, Garlick jr happened in the Z anime aswell, he remembered the events of the movie and the characters used the holy water to disinfect the people baby possesed in GT, he also appeared in GT.
And also, Koyama said he wrote the movies with the intend in mind of connecting them to the Z Anime, the problem was that Toei's production was ahead of him. Just becouse there are some plotholes it doesn't invalidate the author's intent. There is also the dragon fist which Goku knows and the stuff like that, GT is a direct continuation of the Z anime and movies.
There are much more evidence for the movies being canon to the anime continuity than whatnot despite the plotholes. We always go by the visual and blatant evidence in the show, not the hardest and most complicated one.
Seriously, you guys are not the author, you don't hold any authority towards the series, you are just random powerscalers in the internet whose opinion doesnt hold a candle to Toei's production. You are free to make up your own headcanons and fanfictions, but at the end of the day what matters is what the people that own the product say, not the consumer. They do not have the obligation to appeal your desires nor your sense.
Dragon Ball fans always trying to put some sense in the places that lack it entirely. No one knows why Krilin in DBS got stronger than BOG SSG goku, no one knows why Pan from GT is ridicously stronger than most of DBZ. No one knows.
Im nothing, neither you or the rest of the DB Fans are someone to question the plot's narrative choices, even if those do not make sense. I will always trust
Toei's or Koyama's words more than any of you. Werether you like it or not, WOG and a series plot does not care about mine or your feelings in the slightest, either you take it ot leave it.