Whats the difference between token resistance, where the girl puts on a hard front to either see if you crumble, where she's trying to test you if you got a thick skin, or where she's trying to de-escalate your moves by finding excuses that you're going too fast....
VS.... Pretty much the same thing where she's legitimately aren't interested in you.

What are the subtle differences? And how can you tell when you can't get your common sense on the line at that moment and time.

I found sometimes I would get turned down at clubs or other events and I'd just push forward thinking its token resistance only for the girl to really make it clear she's not interested in me for a second time, usually infront of her friends which is always painful and really a state destroyer.

This particular event happened to me two weeks ago, where a blonde has shut me down twice mostly due to a language barrier, but I kept thinking if I speak French she'll talk to me, then when she was walking down the dance floor I smacked her on the ass.. and she kept looking at me for the entire night. I wasn't sure if it was a good look or a bad look, I was pretty nervous weather to approach her on not, but being the brave guy that I am I approached her and she really was like Nooooooo.. which kinda hurt a bit.
Then me and my friend ended the Saturday by going to a strip club, being surrounded by 30 strippers, I had this one asian stripper try to come up to me, so I put my hand out to say, no its okay, and she started bitching.. I then turned to my friend and told him, "dude this stuff happens to us all the time, why's she bitching for?".
Kinda made me realize that women aren't used to rejection. Anyways it still felt kinda good to turn the tables for once.

Sounds like your problem is you just need to get better at calibrating to a womens comfort level. Knowing what there body language says, and what your body langue says and all that, that is crictilly imporant to learn

watch The Pick Up Artist, season 1, and 2, theres alot of really good in field examples and material to learn from about this and about other things PUA related

Persistence will reveal whether it's token resistance or real disinterest, but you may have the wrong idea about "pushing forward."

If you meet resistance, don't escalate further like smacking asses and shit. Just wait a little bit and try whatever you tried before again.

If she gets angrier or grows more frustrated with you, then it's real resistance and you should move on. If not, keep trying.