The rivalry between Goku and Vegeta, the main characters of the Dragon Ball franchise, will probably last forever. While Goku often gets all the major credit for getting rid of the main villains, the truth is that the Saiyan Prince might still be able to beat him someday.
Vegeta has never lost to Goku in Dragon Ball, and that’s a pretty uncomfortable fact for many. The Saiyan Prince has defeated his old pal in the 2022 movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, although we can’t say that it was actually a serious match. Both fighters were in their base form, without going Super Saiyan or Super Saiyan Blue. On the other hand, Goku and Vegeta confronted in two other fights that were more serious in Dragon Ball Z. We can consider that both of those matches ended up with draws.
Even though Goku has almost always been stronger than Vegeta, the truth is that the Saiyan Prince still has a strong chance of defeating his old rival in a serious fight. Let’s see how he could do that:
Using brute force
Even though Goku is stronger than Vegeta, the Saiyan Prince is known for a much more aggressive fighting style. Vegeta likes to tackle his opponent with everything he has, although some would say that it can actually be a weakness. However, if Vegeta tries hard enough, he can definitely take down Goku. Let’s not forget that it’s not the strongest fighter who always wins, as a battle can also be won by being more cunning and experimented than your opponent. The same is available in Dragon Ball, and Vegeta can definitely apply some dirty tricks in order to achieve victory against Goku.
Becoming stronger
Yes, Vegeta definitely has the potential to become stronger than Goku if he trains hard enough. The Prince of all Saiyans always had a strong appetite for fighting and training, and let’s not forget that Dragon Ball never had a problem making a character stronger when it was needed, even though the fans couldn’t see any possibility. The franchise always brings new ways for the characters to improve their fighting. For instance, Frieza got stronger than ever in the manga, as he proved to even surpass Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego. How did he do it? He has been training on a Hyperbolic Time Chamber from another planet for 10 years.
Therefore, Vegeta could simply train as much as possible in order to surpass Goku in power.
Asking the Eternal Dragon for help
Sure, you might say that Vegeta is too proud to ask Shenron to help him defeat Goku. But even so, the Dragon Ball franchise often works in mysterious ways! The Saiyan Prince could simply collect the dragon balls and ask Shenron to make him the strongest fighter in the Multiverse. If the Eternal Dragon cannot do the trick for Vegeta and make him stronger, for instance, Dende could come and upgrade the dragon balls as he did in the 2022 movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
Learning the Mafuba technique
The Mafuba technique has been used by Master Roshi in the original Dragon Ball series against Demon King Piccolo in order to seal the villain to stop his diabolical reign. Master Roshi also used the technique again in Dragon Ball Super during the Tournament of Power, proving to everybody once again that power levels don’t matter anymore when such a technique is used. Therefore, there’s no reason to believe that Vegeta cannot learn the Mafuba technique and use it himself against his old rival Goku.
Vegeta has already beaten Goku before during a sparing match, and he could definitely do it again. All we can do is wait to see what the future of Dragon Ball can offer us.