Gon really is a special case. They had a team consisting of Gon, Killua, Hisoka, and a one-star hunter, and barely managed to stay alive. I dont think its that farfetched to imagine that 10-15 years would go by with no winners.
Also remember, when bisky told Razor to dodge, that serve wasn't nearly as powerful as the one in this episode. It is very well possible Razor couldn't have dodged it had he wanted to.
As far as the build up to Genthru, I feel like this is the only thing thats been done better in the manga this arc.