Part of the problem was that in 2020 they pushed out a new Google Pay, which was designed not based on google accounts, but using phone number tied login, specifically because that approach was necessary to get any real adoption in India. But after succeeding with the new app in India, the people behind the new app got approval to push it out on everyone else. (Calling it a "refresh" is a complete joke. It was a completely different app in all respects that shared only the name it stole from the older Google Pay).
This went fairly poorly. For example, people in the rest of the world wanted to be able to use their google account. This approach had problems like not being able to support a website version. The wallet website still existed and was used to manage payment cards that chrome might suggest, but was no longer connected to the "google pay" service.
The people behind the new Google Pay all resigned or were pushed out. And google decided to back peddle, and move to something more like the old Google Pay. But they wisely decided not to use the Google Pay name again. (It does not help that there is also yet another unrelated Google Pay service used for In app or website based purchases). So they decided to revive the Google Wallet name.