Not really, a language without a great implementation is a dead language.

The implementation only needs to be good enough. In fact, I do not know of any language which had a state-of-the-art implementation when going public.

Most languages are developed behind closed doors and announced once the implementation has been judged good enough by its creator. That wasn't the case with Rakudo/Parrot, so perceptions were skewed from the get-go...

-- gerdr