When the navy did pick the Buffalo, it was a pretty hot ship - but adding armor and self-sealing tanks bumped the weight up and that killed its maneuverability and speed. Throw in those weak landing gear and it was bear to maintain and fly - and didn't have a chance against the A6M in combat.
Got a lot of young American pilots killed finding out.
Reading further... the XF4F-2 monoplane that competed was worse than the Buffalo. However, after the loss, they rebuilt as the XF4F-3 with the supercharged Twin Wasp and added maneuverability (and probably durability). So, by losing at first, the improved Wildcat saved more lives in the end, and maybe the win at Midway.
It’s an amazing story.