A fair number of people thought Gravemaker was undesirable before and shortly after release.
This thread got enough attention that it caused a parody: I think Kunchen is not good so I fed him to Rigard. Thoughts? (Parody: I think Ranvir is not good so I fed him to Li Xiu. Thoughts?)
Miki had a ton of detractors before and shortly after release…until people started seeing the Titan scores people were putting up with him.
Frida was initially criticized a lot for being Average instead of Fast like Evelyn.
So yes, there have certainly been cases where there were negative reactions to a HOTM upon release, who most people would probably regard as being strong heroes now.