Yesterday he was back to his old self and, as a result, Liverpool were back to theirs.
Bellamy changed all that with the performance that manager Rafael Benitez has been waiting for since taking a risk on a player with such a dubious background. Bursting forth with two brilliant early finishes, the striker spent the rest of his 90 minutes demonstrating evidence of an all-round game, setting up a goal for Dirk Kuyt and bewildering Paul Jewell's defence with the angles of his running.
Naturally, being Bellamy, there was a moment of controversy, too. The striker was booked for kicking out at Leighton Baines with the ball nowhere near and, if Baines had not pleaded Bellamy's case so generously, the action taken by Mike Riley, the referee, might have been worse.
The day had not begun so cheerily for Liverpool as striker Peter Crouch suffered a back spasm at home and was ruled out. Benitez brought in Kuyt, having always planned to start with Bellamy.
The manager promised his £6m signing would be a different player once the worries of his court case had been lifted and was quickly proved right. This was the Bellamy whose brash brilliance propelled Blackburn Rovers into Europe last season, not the timid, burdened creature who had could not get his Liverpool career moving before yesterday.
The scoreline was misleading to the point of mendacity with Liverpool's first-half football more spasmodic than Crouch, and yet by the interval they were 4-0 ahead, largely thanks to the Welshman. Wigan had them under early pressure but when John Arne Riise relieved it by clearing from level with his own penalty area, Bellamy transformed the situation, holding off and then sprinting clear of Matt Jackson after Emerson Boyce back-headed the ball.
Two confident touches took Bellamy inside the penalty area where, balancing himself beautifully, he curved a neat finish past Chris Kirkland into the far corner. Nine minutes had elapsed in the game and ten hours and 19 minutes had passed since Liverpool's last Premiership goal in open play.
Djibril Cisse, back in May, had been the scorer. Cisse was bought to add pace to Liverpool's attack but that, unless you are into hairstyles, was about all the Frenchman contributed. Bellamy, here, looked much more the complete deal.
There was a lull, marked only by a spate of soft bookings by Riley. Then Bellamy lacerated Wigan again. This time, after Fitz Hall cut out Luis Garcia's pass, Steven Gerrard got to a loose ball and volleyed it through the centre of Paul Jewell's defence for Bellamy to flash into the box and once more beat Kirkland in composed fashion.
Even at 2-0, Wigan still seemed more in control of the play, but Jose Manuel Reina made an unlikely reflex save to stop Paul Scharner scoring with a header and Lee McCulloch speared the ball into the stand when it dropped.
Jewell's side had one more chance to give the score a more sensible look, but when Heskey went through, Reina made another alert block and Henri Camara was careless with the rebound.
It was Reina who began the picture-book move that resulted in Liverpool's third, but it was Bellamy who played the decisive pass. Reina began by spotting Gerrard in the centre circle and rolling the ball out smartly. Gerrard laid it off to Garcia and moved forward to collect a return pass before sliding Bellamy into clear space on the left-hand side of the area.
Bellamy might have cut inside and tried for a hat-trick, but he was perceptive in spotting Kuyt's arrival and centred for the Dutchman to roll home his sixth Premiership goal. Wigan were beaten.
A short corner played back to Gerrard saw the Liverpool captain crossing and McCulloch turning the ball past his own goalkeeper in tired fashion. It was 4-0 and the towel the home team had been preparing to toss from their corner was finally thrown in.
The second half was predictably anti-climactic. With little to play for, there was little meaningful play, but Benitez drew satisfaction from being able to give rests to Gerrard and Sami Hyypia and blooding Gabriel Paletta and Danny Guthrie in their place. Jewell reconfigured his defence, with Jackson withdrawn, and brought on two young players of his own, David Wright and David Cotterill.
Both could have scored maiden league goals. After Camara's shot was blocked, Heskey turned on the ball and drove it against a post. The rebound fell sharply to Cotterill but he could not turn it in. Late on, Wright burst into the box and shot just over. Despite the dropping temperature, Bellamy took his shirt off at the end. He felt invincible yesterday.