How strong do you think the 23rd Budokai finalists are?

[DBZAOTA482]

One of many things that set the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai apart from the other tournaments is that all the finalists were monsters (as Krillin puts it) in their own rights. No gimmick fighters like Ranfan and Bacterian, or scrubs like Pamput and Manwolf.

We all know Goku and Piccolo ranks far above everyone else so lets focus on their and how they rank among each other:

6. Chi-Chi

The weakest of the 8 finalists would probably have to be Chi-Chi, but not to the point of being completely hopeless as she performed much better against Goku than King Chappa ever did and was noted by Master Roshi on her fighting prowess in relation to her style resembling his own.

She could've made a decent asset to the team had she kept up with her training. It's too late for her to start now without it being forced but one can wonder...

5. Tao Pai Pai

Next in line is Tao who had a brush with death during his fight with Goku and since then spent those good 6 years receiving cybernetic enhancements in order to get revenge on both Goku AND Tien (both with projected gains). His re-appearance did cause for alarm to everyone except Goku who knew at heart that Tien would turn out far stronger and boy was he right...

The disgraced #1 assassin's defeat was still enough to have Krillin and Yamcha shaking in their shoes at the thought of fighting Tien.

4. Yamcha

The Wolf Hurricane is hard to gauge as he spent much of his fight getting humiliated by the middle-aged nerd that is Shen, but he ultimately proved himself as a worthy fighter. His skills were complimented by Kami (who was using Shen's body as a disguise) and the Spirit Ball (Sokidan) was to force Kami to take the fight seriously.

Either way, the fight was a wipe out but at least Yamcha showed his stuff.

3. Krillin

Just like Yamcha, the shaolin monk is a bit hard to rank as his fight is fairly one-sided but he sure didn't go down without a fight. Goku was impressed by his gains and he earned the compliments of Piccolo(Ma-junior), who later rethought his plans of taking over the world with fighters like Krillin present. He even learned the bukujutsu technique.

2. Tien

This ranking is as clear as day. After effortlessly defeating the new and improved Tao Pai Pai, it was evident Tien was far above any human at the tournament but it doesn't end there. Not only had he surpassed Piccolo Daimao in just about every way, he was also faster than Goku with his weights on. The table turned immediately once Goku removed them but it doesn't change the fact that Tien was a BEAST!!!

1. Kami

It should come as no surprise that a god would be in the top 3 of the world's strongest fighters. Even while in the scrawny Shen's body, he was the first fighter to truly push Piccolo and their fight was something beyond words for any human present including Tien.

Also, he was the only onlooker with enough courage to try and step-in during Goku and Piccolo's fight (implying he has not too far behind them) only to have his help turned down by Goku who wanted to win the tournament legitimately.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Kami >>> Tenshinhan >> Taopaipai's Chou Dodonpa > Kuririn/Yamcha > Taopaipai >/>> Chichi seems fairly apparent. What'd be more worth, discussing, however, is how they rank in the wider scope of other characters.

Even being the weakest, Chichi still ought to be above all the 22nd TB characters. Chappa was confident in winning against a Goku far stronger than the one who beat him and with it being arguable about how much of the 22nd TB he viewed afterwards, it's easiest to assume he was also aware of Goku's peak at the time. The same Chappa was oneshotted by Goku and Chichi still wasn't deterred. Her making Goku sweat a little is commendable, though seems to not be consistent with other feats in the tournament and is best to chalk it up to Goku losing Shouki. She still ought to be fairly high tier within the vacuum of Part 1 DB, likely on one of Old Piccolo Daimao's levels of power.

Taopaipai wasn't too impressive against Ten, though did manage to catch him off-guard which solidifies his ranking when Chichi couldn't even keep track of Goku and Ten's battle. Whilst his defeat had Yamcha and Kuririn describing Ten as becoming too strong, it seems most of Taopaipai's strength would be in the power of his Chou Dodonpa that shocked Yamcha upon viewing it, with him otherwise not being treat as a great threat prior by Kuririn and Yamcha beyond his hype. He ought to still be close to the top tiers of the Piccolo Daimao Arc though, likely more of less on the level of post-Choshinsui Goku/Young Piccolo Daimao's initial selves, with his Chou Dodonpa likely being on par with their full power selves.

Kuririn and Yamcha's feats place them on a level comparable to Piccolo Daimao, though likely a little inferior. A Piccolo stronger than his previous incarnation still found Kuririn worth offering praise to and showing more of his power, whilst Yamcha gained compliments from Kami in that it wouldn't take the human long to surpass him with training. Both ought to still be below Prime Daimao's full power though, given Ten found it commendable that Goku had managed to surpass his previous peak, despite it being a given Goku would have surpassed Kuririn and Yamcha.

Tenshinhan's power is fairly apparent. He fought on par with a Goku he praised as having drastically improved from 3 years ago and even managed to outspeed him when not holding his speed back. He's easily above anyone from the Piccolo Daimao Arc apart from Popo and Kami, with him likely still being inferior to Popo.

Kami being the 3rd strongest character in Part 1 DB is so obvious it doesn't even warrant explanation. Even his Shen self is worthy of the same rank when his power against Piccolo sent even Ten into shock at being a level the humans just couldn't compete against. As far as the gap between he and Goku/Piccolo goes, he did block a punch from Piccolo intended for Goku, though catching an opponent off-guard is consistently effective and a far more fatigued Piccolo was confident in still being able to defeat anyone there who wasn't Goku, so it's safe to say he's far below their level.