Yea, I dont buy it either. The first time they fought on earth, Vegeta was clearly stronger than Goku. He would've ended him & blew Earth to shreds had Gohan not transformed. For him to end up so far behind Goku is
status. Vegeta had decades of battle experience, taking down loads of alien planets, compared to Goku just running around Earth. Vegeta had access to top notch training facilities, while Goku trained in some tiny ass village in Mainland China. Its bullshyt. They should've let Vegeta save the world once. Killing himself during the Buu saga would've been the perfect time
I can believe Future Trunks being stronger. Future Trunks had spent his years sharpening his skills against the Androids, who were 10x stronger than anyone the characters in the regular storyline had faced at the time of the Frieza Saga. I think Future Trunks may have been stronger than Goku when he first arrived. On Namek, after Goku went SSJ1, I don't recall Goku immediately killing Frieza, it was a long drawn out battle. Trunks herbed that nikka within seconds