How come Freeza was the only dead fighter in the ToP?

[Polyphase Avatron]

If they knew it was allowed, you'd figure the gods would be scouring the afterlife to try to get the greatest fighters in the history of their universes.

[Peach]

If 17 never agreed and 18 and Krillin dropped out because of Goku's lie, maybe they would have recruited more dead fighters?

Pikkon and Olibu, would have been cool. Cell, King Cold, and the Ginyu Force too.

But in the story we got, Goku just didn't have time. Frieza was last minute. Him and Goku arrived only minutes before they had to leave. They would have been late if Goku went asking a ton of warriors in other world to help.

As for the other universes? It doesn't seem like they have dragon balls or a character like fortune teller baba. What, with Jiren's master being dead.

[Thani]

The thing with Cell, King Cold and others is because they wouldn't have bodies or would have reincarnated already. Freeza himself was the exception not only because he was so evil, but because he was simply too stubborn to repent so Hell gave him a place exclusive to him.

As for the other universes, I find it really hard to believe they wouldn't have at least one individual, mortal or not, with Baba's abilities. And even without that, the King Enma of those universes would have the authority anyway to lend souls.

So yeah, it's unaddressed why nobody else thought of that. Maybe what they got was already the best they had?

[Polyphase Avatron]

If 17 never agreed and 18 and Krillin dropped out because of Goku's lie, maybe they would have recruited more dead fighters?

Pikkon and Olibu, would have been cool. Cell, King Cold, and the Ginyu Force too.

But in the story we got, Goku just didn't have time. Frieza was last minute. Him and Goku arrived only minutes before they had to leave. They would have been late if Goku went asking a ton of warriors in other world to help.

As for the other universes? It doesn't seem like they have dragon balls or a character like fortune teller baba. What, with Jiren's master being dead.

Wasn't it said that Jiren's master couldn't be revived by normal methods because he was killed by a demon?

[Thani]

If 17 never agreed and 18 and Krillin dropped out because of Goku's lie, maybe they would have recruited more dead fighters?

Pikkon and Olibu, would have been cool. Cell, King Cold, and the Ginyu Force too.

But in the story we got, Goku just didn't have time. Frieza was last minute. Him and Goku arrived only minutes before they had to leave. They would have been late if Goku went asking a ton of warriors in other world to help.

As for the other universes? It doesn't seem like they have dragon balls or a character like fortune teller baba. What, with Jiren's master being dead.

Wasn't it said that Jiren's master couldn't be revived by normal methods because he was killed by a demon?

More on the line that he couldn't be revived by an Angel, specifically. It makes zero sense why that would be the case, considering demons as in denizens of the demon realm were never depicted as particularly... powerful? Unholy?

Well, I guess there was that bit of trivia that Kami said about Raditz's death, that if Piccolo were still a demon like in his previous life, then Raditz would be unable to cross to the afterlife, with his soul forever drifting into a limbo of sorts. It was never mentioned again, so I never thought it were such a rigid rule, but I guess that would explain why Macarita couldn't just revive Gicchin.

[Jack Bz]

If 17 never agreed and 18 and Krillin dropped out because of Goku's lie, maybe they would have recruited more dead fighters?

Pikkon and Olibu, would have been cool. Cell, King Cold, and the Ginyu Force too.

But in the story we got, Goku just didn't have time. Frieza was last minute. Him and Goku arrived only minutes before they had to leave. They would have been late if Goku went asking a ton of warriors in other world to help.

As for the other universes? It doesn't seem like they have dragon balls or a character like fortune teller baba. What, with Jiren's master being dead.

Wasn't it said that Jiren's master couldn't be revived by normal methods because he was killed by a demon?

More on the line that he couldn't be revived by an Angel, specifically. It makes zero sense why that would be the case, considering demons as in denizens of the demon realm were never depicted as particularly... powerful? Unholy?

Well, I guess there was that bit of trivia that Kami said about Raditz's death, that if Piccolo were still a demon like in his previous life, then Raditz would be unable to cross to the afterlife, with his soul forever drifting into a limbo of sorts. It was never mentioned again, so I never thought it were such a rigid rule, but I guess that would explain why Macarita couldn't just revive Gicchin.

It was stated after the piccolo arc also that Krillin, Roshi and Chiaotzu can't pass into the afterlife because they were killed by a demon, so are in limbo. However, they were all easily revived with the dragon balls.

It may just be that the dragon balls have better revival power than angels.

[LoganForkHands73]

I like to imagine that most other universes don't have nearly as much interaction with the afterlife as Universe 7 and had no time to properly prepare for the tournament. Many universes clearly just brought along the closest jobbers they could find. I find it hard to believe that Mulithem and Obuni are truly the strongest mortals Universe 10 has to offer, as just one example (especially when a god as strong as Zamasu was its North Kaio). It was only thanks to Goku's lateral thinking that Freeza was recruited, with some unintentional prompting from Beerus. Universe 7 were in a unique situation where they were confident enough that they had enough viable fighters on a single planet and the gods were too lazy to consider scouting anywhere else until it was too late, so the idea of scouting in the afterlife probably never crossed anyone else's minds. Many other universes probably don't have any means to bring someone back to life. No Dragon Balls, no mystical old crones on speed dial. It's interesting that Toyotaro still included the classic "people killed by demons can't pass onto the afterlife" explanation for why Jiren couldn't revive Gicchin without Super Dragon Balls. Dyspo also recognised that Freeza was dead in the anime.

From a Doylist perspective, it would've been clumsy to have to explain why, I dunno, The Preecho had a halo. They would've had to explain that he died and why they decided to bring him back to life like Freeza, if not in the show then in some guidebook or website bio. It's just kinda unnecessary.

[Trouser]

Maybe they didn't think about it. Frieza was mentioned by Goku, but only because he was fighting them earlier and he was super strong. And it's Goku afterall, he's the only one who can have the stupidest ideas ever.
I think it was wasted opportunity to "canonize" Paikuhan. I'd rather him over Roshi or other human fodder fighter. I like all the Z-Fighters, but ToP is not a good place for them.