Before this match ever began, the big debate was not this match of Bowser's, but Bowser's second match. He was a lock to face Ryu of Street Fighter fame, and those who argued that the Spring 2005 stats were invalid or that they inflated Bowser kept noting that Ryu placed a couple of percents above Bowser in the 2004 Xsts. The problem with this is that said stats are simply Bowser being given his 2003 value due to being stuck behind Mario/Bowser SFF, and the entire Bowser/Ryu debate centered around whether or not his match with Sephiroth in Spring 2005 was legitimate. After all, it saw Bowser perform better on Sephiroth than Mario had managed against Seph.