It's concerning the humans as a whole. I'm still waiting for your retort re: Tien. I'd accept the fact he's not really human as a rebuttal though. Dude does have three eyes.
After the Saiyan Saga they slowly lost relevance. Tien had that one moment against Cell and Yamcha got impaled by Gero but besides that I can't really think of too many moments where they held true relevancy.
It took all of them to defeat Vegeta when they first encountered him on Earth. He wasn't insignificant, in fact, he was their greatest threat until the arrival of Frieza. It's a bit silly to underscore that battle in that way also considering they also nuked him with a spirit bomb to boot and he...
But you can deflect that argument with the Cell imposition.
Don't really think Vegeta was severely suppressed either unless you believe he walked around actively hiding his ki at all times. Going by his attitude and behaviour I would even suggest he was at his regular fighting power even just...
You can't just use plot armour to deflect my point of their increase in strength.
Vegeta would have gained a ton given he worked tirelessly over the seven year gap to bridge the difference between he and Gohan and Goku was shooting for the stars then, too. Vegeta had to be ready and capable...