History Main / ICouldaBeenAContender

* Walter from ''Series/BreakingBad'' could have become rich had his former friends not "betrayed" him. Subverted in that he actually left the company and sold his share for a paltry $5,000 prior to the company's success.

* The Creator/QuincyJones series ''Series/InTheHouse'' had Music/{{LL Cool J}} play a football star who gets taken out by a knee injury, and starts a gym. His leg eventually heals, and he gets back in the game. Guess what happens?

{{Retirony}} is especially cruel when it strikes a character down in their prime just as they begin embarking on success and glory. At least the old soldiers in combat made something out of their lives even if they found no peace afterwards. These young souls don't have the opportunity to become somebodies -- they get just a little taste of it before suffering a CareerEndingInjury or circumstances force them to throw it all away. Naturally, this will be right after (or right before) they reach the point that would make them bonafide superstars.

* This is how the plot of ''LightNovel/ICouldntBecomeAHeroSoIReluctantlyDecidedToGetAJob'' 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.]]

* One of the ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' annuals gave the Sandman an entire story built on this idea, complete with reference to ''On the Waterfront''. One of the highlights was ruining his potential football career by fixing a game in high school (to help a friend square a mob debt, no less).
** Ultimate Spider-Man portrays scientists like Doctor Octavious and Shocker this way. Genuinely brilliant scientists and technicians who as a result of circumstances end up becoming villains.
** For a long time in the comics, many saw Peter Parker as this. A science prodigy as a high school student who makes a living as a freelance photographer and was traditionally seen as the underachiever in his social circle. The fact that by his mid-20s he kept having the same life as his high school days (balancing his Aunt, his relationships, his rent, his superhero work) only cemented this. Recently, writers have made him a CEO of his own corporation specifically to challenge this idea, and also to update the setting since it strains credibility for Spider-Man to remain poor and struggling and ''still'' operate in a contemporary New York of high student loans, high rent and constant expenses.

* ComicBook/LexLuthor keeps thinking of how he could have saved the world and humanity with his great intellect if not for ComicBook/{{Superman}}, and that he actually hates developing WeaponsOfMassDestruction and other MadScientist devices. This is repeatedly shown as a self-delusion, however, and both in Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis stories, Superman has contempt for Luthor for wasting his genius on petty schemes when he could have saved the world years ago if he wanted.

* After they beat back the newly emerging New Horde in ''Fanfic/SheRaInTheWake'', Hordak still feels like a failure, having needed help in fighting what he views as the person who usurped his accomplishments away from him.

* The TropeNamer is ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'', which has Terry calling out his brother Charley for making him [[ThrowingTheFight take a dive]] against Wilson and ending his boxing career before it even had a chance to begin. A double-layered irony, as the claim is not even "I coulda been a champion" but merely "I coulda been ''a contender''" -- that is, he could have had a chance... at having a chance.

* Angelo from ''Film/BackstreetDreams'' was once a highly skilled boxer, but by the time he got his shot at the belt, age had weakened him too much.
* In ''Film/AaronLovesAngela'', Aaron's father Ike spends much of his time drunkenly looking at slides of his college football days. He's sad and bitter that his career didn't work out, and his biggest wish for Aaron is that he'll have a successful basketball career, even though Aaron doesn't think he'll ever be tall enough.

* Wrestling/LowKi. He's from the same generation of indy talent as Wrestling/CMPunk, Bryan Danielson, AJ Styles, and Samoa Joe, and is widely regarded to be just as talented as they are -- he was even the first ROH World Champion, a championship one of them (AJ) never won. Yet, while's he had a relatively successful career, it pales in comparison to the success they have all had, due to his notorious difficulty to work with which has gotten him banned from several top indy feds and major promotions such as Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling. While Low Ki has found success again in MLW, one can't help but wonder how much more successful he could've been if he hadn't gotten in his own way.

* Russian gymnast Elena Mukhina, the 1978 All-Around World Champion, was considered one of the stars of the Russian team and had a pretty good shot at a medal in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Two weeks before the Games, Mukhina had a catastrophic fall while attempting a dangerous roll-out skill and was paralyzed from the neck down. (The skill and all other similar skills were [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique later banned]] because of the potential for serious injury.) However, by this point, Mukhina was so fed up with her [[TrainingFromHell brutal training regimen]] that, far from being upset at missing her shot, she was actually relieved that she wouldn't be going to the Olympics.
* Similarly, American Julissa Gomez was considered a potential contender for a spot on the 1988 US Olympic Team but broke her neck in a vaulting accident at a smaller competition in May of that year. While still hospitalized for the injury, Gomez was accidentally disconnected from her ventilator, and the lack of oxygen caused her to lapse into a vegetative state; she died three years later, never regaining consciousness. However, even if the ventilator accident hadn't happened, her athletic career would almost certainly have been over, as she wasn't expected to ever walk again after the injury.

* "Duchess" by Music/{{Genesis}}, about a failed pop star trying to relive her glory days.

* As far as promotions go, Wrestling/{{TNA}}. Originally a small-time promotion established by Jerry and Wrestling/JeffJarrett to fill in the void left behind Wrestling/{{WCW}}, TNA gradually grew as a company, eventually escalating by signing other prominent stars from WWE, such as Wrestling/{{Christian}} and (most famously) Wrestling/KurtAngle. By 2009, they had over a million people watching their flagship show, ''Impact!'', had a roster boasting some of the best young talent around, and all in all, seemed primed for greatness.\\\

* Similarly, American Julissa Gomez was considered a potential contender for a spot on the 1988 US Olympic Team but broke her neck in a vaulting accident at a smaller competition in May of that year. While still hospitalized for the injury, Gomez was accidentally disconnected from her ventilator, and the lack of oxygen caused her to lapse into a vegetative state. She died three years later, never regaining consciousness; however, even if the ventilator accident hadn't happened, her athletic career would almost certainly have been over.

* American Football safety Nick Collins, a three-time Pro Bowler with the Green Bay Packers who had set records with his interception returns, was on the path to a Hall of Fame career until a freak accident on a routine play in 2011 left him with a herniated disc in his neck. Collins was forced to undergo major spinal surgery[[note]]incidentally the same procedure that ended the career of another Packers player, Sterling Sharpe, 16 years earlier[[/note]], and [[CareerEndingInjury was never able to play professional football again]]. Collins did get several standout years and a Super Bowl ring prior to the injury, but he could have been one of the best safeties of his era (alongside legends like Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu) if his career hadn't been cut short.

* Similarly, American Julissa Gomez was considered a potential contender for a spot on the 1988 US Olympic Team but broke her neck in a vaulting accident at a smaller competition in May of that year. Though she was initially aware and responsive following the accident, Gomez was accidentally disconnected from her ventilator while in the hospital, and the lack of oxygen caused her to lapse into a vegetative state. She died three years later, never regaining consciousness.

* ''Series/RedDwarf:'' Arnold Rimmer insists he only ever failed his shot at greatness by a narrow margin. The episode that first delves into this, "[=Me2=]", has him claim his failure stems from a gaffe involving soup... wherein Rimmer completely fails to notice the disconnect between his story and the fact he'd been in the Space Corps for fourteen years before that and was still a nobody. A recurring theme of Rimmer is that he'll blame everyone and everything for his total inability to become an officer but himself.

* Rom from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' is an absolute genius when it comes to engineering who could have very easily thrived had he pursued a career in that field, but instead chose to follow [[ProudMerchantRace Ferengi]] cultural expectations and become a businessman (which he has zero talent for). This is what motivates his son Rom to join Starfleet because he knows that he isn't cut out to be a businessman either and [[LoserSonOfLoserDad doesn't want to make the same mistake]]. [[spoiler:Ultimately subverted for Rom as well, as Nog's example makes him realize he can strive for better too and he steps away from business to start a career in engineering. Just before the [[GrandFinale series finale]] he's appointed to be the new Grand Nagus of the Ferengi Alliance, so that he can oversee the transition of Ferengi society into a democracy.]]

* In a less extreme example, any number of athletes in Olympic sports have lost their chance at the Olympics because of an ill-timed injury. Since the Olympics occur only once every four years, even if the injury wasn't career-ending, that sometimes turns out to be their ''only'' chance at an Olympics, because an athlete who was in the prime of their career leading up to one Olympics may be past his or her peak by the time the next Games comes around. (This is especially true in some sports, like women's gymnastics, where ''most'' athletes' peaks are a few years at most.)

** Perhaps the two best known cases of a career cut short by death are those of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89variste_Galois Évariste Galois]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Moseley Henry Moseley]]. The former was a mathematical TeenGenius who got into a duel at only 20 and died from it, while the latter was a physicist who made a breakthrough contribution to nuclear theory before dying in the battle of Gallipoli in 1915.

* ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'' ([[TropeNamers Trope Namer]]). A double-layered irony, as the claim is not even "I coulda been a champion" but merely "I coulda been ''a contender''" -- that is, he could have had a chance... at having a chance.

->'''Terry Malloy:''' It wasn't him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, "Kid, this ain't your night. We're going for the price on Wilson." You remember that? "This ain't your night"! ''My night!'' I coulda taken Wilson apart! So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville! You was my brother, Charley, you shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn't have to take them dives for the short-end money.

->'''Terry:''' It wasn't him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, "Kid, this ain't your night. We're going for the price on Wilson." You remember that? "This ain't your night!" My night! I coulda taken Wilson apart! So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville.

* ''Series/RedDwarf:'' Arnold Rimmer insists he only ever failed his shot at greatness by a narrow margin. The episode that first delves into this, "[=Rimmer2=]", has him claim his failure stems from a gaffe involving soup... wherein Rimmer completely fails to notice the disconnect between his story and the fact he'd been in the Space Corps for fourteen years before that and was still a nobody. A recurring theme of Rimmer is that he'll blame everyone and everything for his total inability to become an officer but himself.

->'''Charley:''' Look, kid, I-- how much you weigh, son? When you weighed one hundred and sixty-eight pounds, you were beautiful. You coulda been another Billy Conn, and that skunk we got you for a manager, he brought you along too fast.\\
'''Terry:''' It wasn't him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, "Kid, this ain't your night. We're going for the price on Wilson." You remember that? "This ain't your night!" My night! I coulda taken Wilson apart! So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville. You was my brother, Charley. You shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn't have to take them dives for the short-end money.\\
'''Charley:''' Oh, I had some bets down for you. You saw some money.\\
'''Terry:''' You don't understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, Charley.

'''Terry:''' You don't understand! I coulda had class. [[TropeNamers I coulda been a contender.]] I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, Charley.

* Subverted by the Manning Family. While father Archie Manning was an NFL quarterback in the '70s (a good player on the abysmally bad Saints teams at the time) and both Peyton and Eli are Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks (Peyton with the Colts and Eli with the Giants), there's a third Manning brother, Cooper (the oldest, actually), who was a hot prospect wide receiver in high school before a diagnosis of a spinal condition ended his career. He's not bitter about it, having gone into finance and later on getting his own football analysis show on Fox Sports; he has [[https://vault.si.com/vault/2003/11/10/the-other-brother-like-his-famous-father-archie-and-younger-siblings-peyton-and-eli-cooper-manning-had-nfl-caliber-talent-then-his-body-betrayed-him admitted]] to wishing he could have played professionally like his brothers did, but it's not because he wanted the fame or success so much as that he just loved playing football and wishes he could have had a chance to make a living out of it. (Although he can't resist the urge to [[SiblingRivalry tease his brothers]] on occasion by telling them he would have been more successful than either of them if he'd had the chance.)

** There was Rhaegar Targaryen, one of the most promising warriors in not only the history of his house but also the Seven Kingdoms, and was prophesied to become the Prince That Was Promised (although he thought that his son, Aegon, was the one). Unfortunately, he was born as heir to the [[TheCaligula Mad King Aerys]], who jealous of his son's popularity, and then brought the fall of the entire house, the early deaths of Rhaegar and his children, and the exile of the remaining Targaryens to Essos. The only person who doesn't idolize Rhaegar in the present day is Robert Baratheon, and a few lament what could have been had he reigned on the Iron Throne.

Compare DreamCrushingHandicap, 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.

* Walter from ''Series/BreakingBad'' could have become rich had his former friends not "betrayed" him. Considering his later actions, maybe they were right in leaving him behind.