https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/3839-gear-division-round-3-auron-vs-squall
Oh, I have so many things I could say about this match! We always got excited when we got a battle between two near elites, and there was a lot of discussion over this one. Squall was a pretty big favorite on the board, but there were arguments to be made for Auron. The big one was that he had succeeded in beating Sonic in 2008 where Squall had failed in 2007.
This was a notable match for me for many reasons beyond Squall winning a big match and making it to the fourth round for the first time in a one-on-one contest. I made many contest sig bets over the years, but this was one of the rare times I won one. I defeated HaRRicH (miss that guy) and put a Smiling Squall Pic in his sig as a result.
Speaking of Smiling Squall, that was in the background of the picture, which was made by KoolAidShoto (miss that guy too), who wanted to do the concept justice and not make a joke out of it. Well, Zen did "previews" in his Rate the Match Pic topic for upcoming ratings, and the one for Auron/Squall was a Photoshopped post of me going "WAAAAAAAAAA" until the text went off the screen. Well, I surprised Zen by giving the pic a 10, and I think he realized I wasn't just being whiny about his 2008 Smiling Squall picture. I just didn't think it was fair to make a picture intentionally designed to make someone look derpy. I honestly think this was when Zen and I became friends. Good times.
Finally, this match was an oddity in that Squall was the only time (or at least the first time) this contest that the character who lost in the U.S. won the match. Squall won pretty handily basically everywhere else, so it enabled him to overcome the difference. As such, he probably puts up 53-54% in a night match, but at least he won either way!
https://imgur.com/WqDcNNq
https://imgur.com/89Z5jrB