History Main / ICouldaBeenAContender

* Wrestling/AJStyles was the first Wrestling/RingOfHonor Pure Wrestling Champion, at title that faded from existence when the final pure champion, Wrestling/BryanDanielson, defeated World Champion Nigel [=McGuinness=] and merged the two belts. He fully recognized that that should have been him in that spot but his first pure reign came to an end when he was pulled out of ROH by Wrestling/{{TNA}}, which was technically a breach of contract. Still, he was pretty much the face of TNA, rather than the soon to be face of ROH, until he kept being shoved to the side in favor of former Wrestling/{{WWE}} wrestlers, such as Wrestling/KevinNash, Wrestling/ScottHall and Wrestling/JeffHardy. By the time Wrestling/HulkHogan arrived, Styles basically ended up as a mid carder in "the house" he "built". Rectifying these events would be his drive in Wrestling/{{Fortune}} and Wrestling/BulletClub.

* Marty's BadFuture in the second ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' movie: A car accident resulted in a hand injury that left him unable to play the guitar.

* The central premise of ''Series/{{Suits}}'' is based on a subversion. Mike could have been a great lawyer but the ToxicFriend influence of Trevor got him expelled from college. When the series starts he is reduced to taking exams for other people for money and is about to be busted for being a drug courier. A chance encounter with Harvey, a top level lawyer in one of the best law firms in the city, gives him a second chance. Harvey is so impressed by Mike that he hires him as his associate even though Mike has no law degree. Mike now has to use all his skills and talent to keep this dream job.
* Donaldson, the money-grubbing researcher from ''Series/{{Utopia}}'' claims he was a real scientific high-flyer until he discovered that the SARS epidemic did not actually exist and he was ReassignedToAntarctica for his troubles, and now the only job he can get it testing pet food. He is bitterly resentful of this and keeps trying to sell out the gradual uncovering of TheConspiracy to the very people that demoted him [[MoneyDearBoy just so he can be rich again]].

-->-- "You all have lives, I just clean up you mess. Well now you have to clean up mine"

* R&B singer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Jones Miss Jones]] had a lot of buzz in the mid-90s after her guest appearance on Music/{{Nas}}' ''Sugar Hill''. Especially since she was a singer's singer. However, a lot of set backs (as well as a reportedly [[SmallNameBigEgo bad attitude]]) derailed her music career. She went into [=DJing=] after that, hosting the morning show on the UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity rap station Hot 97, before controversy got her kicked off of that station (look up "Hot 97 tsunami song" for a particularly noteworthy sample of her antics). She's now a DJ for a UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}} radio station.

* Mitsuki Hayase in ''VisualNovel/RumblingHearts''. At the beginning of the story, she's already a bonafide Olympic-grade swimmer. Then, [[WhamEpisode her best friend Haruka got hit in a car accident, all because she chatted with her other friend, Haruka's would-be boyfriend, Takayuki, way too long on his way to date Haruka]]. At that point, she became unable to swim further, eventually quits and ends up as a [[{{Salaryman}} salary woman]]. Over time, when she passes on a swimming pool, she's always reminded with this fact. [[FromBadToWorse And things just go downhill from that point on]].

* This is how the plot of ''Light Novel/YuushaNiNarenakattaOreWaShibushibuShuushokuOKetsuiShimashita'' starts off. The protagonist Raul was the top of his class to become a hero, only for the [[BigBad demon king]] to kick the bucket. With peace brought into the world, the hero business was closed down and he's forced to work as a retail sales clerk, [[CripplingOverspecialization unable to find a job with abilities that he can't use in any other businesses.]]

* The [=UnSub=] of one episode of ''CriminalMinds'' was a former high school football star in a small, football-obsessed town, who was reduced to working as a garbageman after blowing out his knee in his senior year, while his teammates abandoned him and went on to college on scholarships, and had the successful careers and families he believed he should have had. He got his "revenge" on the team by abducting their neglected, soccer-playing daughters and forcing them to kill each other.

* Jesus Chavez was a top Mexican boxing prospect whom many believed would have been the next great boxing star from South America. He even gave Floyd Mayweather Jr. one of his toughest fights at the 135 division. However, that all ended when he got into an vehicular accident which permanently damaged one of his knee caps. He tried to make a comeback afterwards, but the injury clearly interfered with his boxing, forcing him to retire.

* Invoked in an episode of ''TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'', Will tries to psyche up the college football team for the BigGame, encouraging them to give it their all because "I know some of you might get into the majors, but for most of you, this is the end of the line!", and then starts to go into detail about how their lives will be once their GloryDays end after graduation. It doesn't work.

Compare SorryBillyButYouJustDontHaveLegs, StageMom, GloryDays, TradeYourPassionForGlory. WhiteDwarfStarlet is a related phenomenon, where the person got their moment of glory -- it just didn't last long, and the bitterness is tangible. Sometimes associated with JadedWashout.

* Jimmy from ''Film/TheAirUpThere'' is a former college basketball star until he blew his knee. To be accepted into the Winabi tribe, he had to throw away his championship ring.

* Inverted in ''Film/{{Moneyball}}''. Billy Bean is bitter because scouts convinced him that he could be a baseball star and he gave up a college scholarship to play Major League Baseball straight out of high school. Instead of ending up with a degree from Stanford he ended up with a mediocre baseball career that went nowhere.

* New Jersey band TheGaslightAnthem have a song entitled "I Coul'da Been a Contender" which appears to follow the themes of messed up chances and regret; "You were gonna be my JudyGarland, we were gonna share your tinman heart."

* Used directly in the film ''Film/MuppetTreasureIsland''. As the pirates sing (without regret) about the different possible paths they could have taken in life, one of them comments "I coulda been a contender!"

* ''Ladybugs'': Rodney Dangerfield sucks up to the boss to get a soccer coach job, claiming the only reason he didn't get to the pros was because of injury.
* ''The Rocker'', in which TheOffice's Rainn Wilson plays a Pete Best (see the music category below) analog.
* Spoofed with the Mary (Had A Little Lamb) character in ''Mother Goose Rock & Rhyme'', who claims she could have been so much more if only that damn sheep weren't following her everywhere.

* In the film ''Friday Night Lights'', the ex-star of the central football team's obsessing over his regrets turn him into a violent alcoholic. The current team members are painfully aware that a similar fate awaits them after the glory of the sport has long since faded.

* The book ''Ethan Frome'' features a young man's frustration over being unable to pursue his scientific interests because of being tied to his small hometown with the illnesses of his parents and wife.

* The prevalence of this in sports films is parodied in ''That Mitchell and Webb Look'', with a film about cricket; the coach is bitter because he used to play cricket for a team that reached the "final of the Ashes", shyeah, but he never found fame, because he bowled a wide.

* In the mid-90s, people thought that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dayton_Family the Dayton Family]] was going to be the next big {{gangsta rap}} group. However, they were derailed by legal troubles and never made it out of their underground fanbase in Flint, Michigan.

* In ''Theatre/MillionDollarQuartet'', Carl Perkins is portrayed this way. He was well on his way as a musician when a car accident put him on the shelf for months, meanwhile Elvis Presley exploded onto the scene. He's frustrated that even though he wrote "Blue Suede Shoes", everyone thinks of it as Elvis's song.

* One of the [=NPCs=] in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' imply this. They used to be an adventurer like the PC, thus they could have the glory now! [[MemeticMutation But then they took an arrow to the knee...]]

* The [=UnSub=] of one episode of ''CriminalMinds'' was a former high school football star in a small, football-obsessed town, who was reduced to working as a garbageman after blowing out his knee in his senior year, while his teammates went on to college on scholarships, and had the successful careers and families he believed he should have had. He got his "revenge" on the team by abducting their neglected, soccer-playing daughters and forcing them to kill each other.

* Subverted by Music/ConwayTwitty. Baseball was his second passion and he received an offer to play for the Philadelphia Phillies but he was drafted into the Army. After Conway [[ReturningWarVet got out of the service]], he made it big as a country singer; country music was actually his first passion.

* Bill Butterfield, a high-school football player from Texas. It was evident that he was bitter about not going beyond high school football, given the way he tried to force his son, Lance, into the spotlight. Said actions eventually resulted in his murder.