ELP wasn't necessarily bad in 2018, no, just really, really bland. He had no personality so it was really tough to ever care much about anything he was doing. His gimmick in the Bullet Club solved all that and then some.
Also helps that he went from being a midcard act in RevPro to one of the harder-pushed commodities in the New Japan Junior Division - that'll raise your profile any which way you look at it.