In the last few books Gawyn has been portrayed as possibly better than Lan; definately better than Galad (refer back to the sparring with multiple warders at once, including one that occasionally pointed on Lan, in tGS). Additionally he had the advantage of not 1 but 3 DeathKnife rings. I caught the weilding the sword vs being the sword differentce that Sanderson/Jordan was making, but I just can't buy it.

I think it would have worked (continuity-wise) marginally better if it had been Galad that got dispatched easily instead but it still seemed contrieved to me. Super-speed can't-see-me certified blademaster Gawyn got sliced to bits easily, Power-proof Galad did just slightly better, but completely undefended, exhausted from months of running and fighting, so outclassed Demondred that he couldn't even chanel... No, it doesn't work for me.