It's flat out said that Roger's death sparked the Pirate Age that's so intense with competition, so there clearly wasn't as much back then. We even have a statement that he crept under Big Mom's nose to get her poneglyph. I'm not saying I don't think he's strong, I just don't think he has his own tier like people keep saying & implying. All we're aware of is that his Second Mate could take an admiral and that he himself could fight evenly with Prime Garp & Whitebeard a number of times.
I think you could only hype him up to the extent I see if you believe Prime Whitebeard & Garp could low/mid-diff all the other Yonko or something ridiculous like that. By the end of the story, I'm sure we all expect Zoro & Sanji to compete with admirals after Luffy overcomes Kaido, which is guaranteed to NOT be some moderately difficult fight but mission impossible.
I think you could only hype him up to the extent I see if you believe Prime Whitebeard & Garp could low/mid-diff all the other Yonko or something ridiculous like that. By the end of the story, I'm sure we all expect Zoro & Sanji to compete with admirals after Luffy overcomes Kaido, which is guaranteed to NOT be some moderately difficult fight but mission impossible.