The writers wanted to give Iris the win and did it in a way to make it clear that Pikachu had no chance with both the type disadvantage and that Excadrill was already known to be a powerhouse.
Yet people still complained when Iris won.
--
BOP Results: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/Rivalry%20BOP.xls
Congrats to SuperNiceDog for winning the guru contest.