Dragon Ball's Yamcha is a beloved character in the franchise, which is why his portrayal as a relative weakling in Dragon Ball Z is so disappointing. Despite this, Yamcha used to be a quite competent fighter and rival for Goku long before the days of Z. Unfortunately for many fans though, even these days made a joke out of the Z Fighter's biggest underdog. Yamcha's most humiliating moment actually came in Dragon Ball as opposed to Dragon Ball Z.

In Dragon Ball chapter 174 by Akira Toriyama, Yamcha is completely mocked during his Strongest-Under-The-Heavens tournament match against Kami, who is disguised as a normal human named Shen. Kami creates the false impression that he's accidentally hurting Yamcha by "tripping" and hitting Yamcha's side with one of his flailing legs and by headbutting Yamcha's groin after "instinctively ducking" from an earlier attack. Kami later says he's doing this for Yamcha's benefit because he thinks Yamcha has the makings of a brilliant fighter but still has much to learn. But was it necessary?

Yamcha's Worst Moment Was His Fight With Kami

Though this could have been a valuable moment of character development, the problem is that Kami teaches Yamcha these valuable lessons in front of an audience. Every time it appears as though Yamcha gets hurt accidentally and in the most embarrassing way, the entire crowd including the announcer laughs. Although Kami later proves that he's actually a capable fighter, the damage has already been done; Yamcha has been made into a complete laughingstock. It isn't just unnecessary that Kami chooses to teach him these lessons in a public setting where he's already on display but that he hurts Yamcha in ways that will cause people to laugh at him. Kami could have easily conveyed the importance of not judging a book by its cover by fighting seriously the entire time.

The manga proved in an earlier chapter that Yamcha could have received the same training in a less public setting. Instead though, Dragon Ball gave that honor to Yajirobe, saving him from Yamcha's eternal humiliation. Yajirobe, another laughingstock in the DBZ universe, faces Kami as Shen in the preliminaries where there are already fewer eyes on him. Moreover, Yajirobe had the foresight to wear a mask so no one would recognize him, so he suffers the embarrassment without the added shame of everyone knowing it was him. Yamcha, unfortunately, wasn't granted this honor.

Yamcha Always Failed, Especially in Comparison to Krillin

This isn't the first time that Dragon Ball shoved Yamcha to the side. Even though he has done some amazing feats like Yamcha helping Goku against the ridiculous Carrot Master, Yamcha's losses feel much larger and unnecessary when compared to Krillin's wins in the Strongest-Under-The-Heavens tournament. In the first tournament, Yamcha may have gotten through the preliminaries, but his first official match is against Master Roshi disguised as Jackie Chun, so he understandably loses in chapter 37. Meanwhile, Krillin is allowed one win when he battles against the ridiculous Bacteria Man. Why couldn't have Yamcha had this honor? In the next tournament, Yamcha not only loses against Tien but gets his leg unnecessarily snapped in chapter 118. Meanwhile, Krillin is lucky enough to go up against Chiaotzu instead of Tien and win.

Then there was one time Yamcha surrendered against Fortuneteller Baba's Mummy in chapter 102. Though, Krillin lost his only match during the same challenge because a vampire sucked blood from his head for too long. Meanwhile, Yamcha won against an invisible man but only after taking a sever beating first. But that's only one time in a whole host of other embarrassing fights that prove Dragon Ball never respected Yamcha even before his famous death and last words against the Saibamen in DBZ.

Dragon Ball is available on Viz.com.