User blog comment:Godisme/Double Feature: Bond Behind Blast and March of the StarCross/@comment-893506-20120418181407/@comment-1268838-20120420165238

That always tends to be the case in Bleach. The only real fights seem to happen when equally-matched opponents fight. Because of the Reiatsu mechanic, it's more or less impossible for an opponent to survive against somebody that is stronger than they are. I wouldn't put their survival down to their own merit though; Yamamoto did say something to the effect of not killing them when he downed them. Harribel just seemed to jump the shark (hohohohoho) when she assumed that they were dead.