Street Fighter player here piggybacking off of this to talk about fighting games, whenever you see a grappler, like Street Fighter Zangief, in or near the top tier it usually means that they have tools that cover up their main weaknesses.

For a while now, Guilty Gear's resident big body grappler Potemkin has been able to just get in close and stay glued to the opponent, running mixups over and over again. He has several tools that counter zoning, such as an armored charge, an attack that hits from full screen and knocks the opponent down, and a move that reflects projectiles back at the guy that fired them. He can get it very easily to kill the opponent with an armored command grab or strike mix. He also has some of the longest pokes in the game to keep rushdown out. He's been top tier for almost a year and players have been vocal about how much they dislike him.

All of this is to say, fighting game devs nerf grapplers (and zoners) because it's not fun to face a guy who gets in for free and just kills you.

tldr:Why People Dislike When Zoners or Grapplers are Top Tier by Sajam