Hello, im new at the forum, dont know this is the right section, but i read lots of interesting balrog stuff here, match-ups strategies, etc.
I would like to share a match versus a friend who plays Zangief.
It’s a first to 10.
Our level is not Top, but i think we are not bad.
Hope you like, and fell free to comment about this match, and the balrog vs zangief match itself.
The match is that bad? =/
I typically want to keep this match up on the ground making it a footsie battle , whiff punish and keeping gief out of your spacing meaning not letting him green hand in or jump. Dont dash punch, a good gief will punish you and you don’t wanna be within that range with the buff to giefs spd. Good normals keeping gief out is st.lp , st.hk/hp.
If he gets you knocked down you have to deal with his mixup try not to let it get that far, if your on point with footsies and anti airs it shouldn’t happen. Rush punches on wake up is not recommended they can all be read and punished hard.
Try to hold your ground by standing still grounded dont jump to much focus on keeping him out, often you walked yourself into the corner and had to deal with the pressure following.
Its gief who needs to get in on you with life lead just be ready to punish everything and dont jump in against him either it will get you knocked down and mixed up, go easy on the cr.jab pressure aswell its not recommended. Try to keep it to blockstrings or you might eat a spd. Standing jab into sweep is godlike here even after nerf to hitbox exploit it. Thats what ive learned from playing zangief and my tips to you
Oh, thank you very much.
I see, i will try to not go to attack and use less dash punch, maybe stop using it? I think using it in the right range where is not punishable is good.
If I may add a little information based from my experiences:
Footsie battle vs gief is harder now in AE because of the increased lp spd range. He can just sit outside Balrog’s sweep range and wait for you to whiff a normal and react with lp spd. This is very tough to handle especially if your opponent has the life lead. So my advice would be to get your life lead in the early seconds of the round to force gief to create openings for himself then punish him hard for trying to break your defense.
Always be aware of your position. If gief is standing outside your sweep range, don’t be tempted to poke. Remember that 1 knockdown from gief may lead to you losing the round. Also, be aware if you are in range of his lp spd. There might be times that you think gief is outside your sweep range but in actuality he’s trying to get into lp spd range. You would want to give yourself a quick smack on the face if gief manages to snatch you with an spd because you’re down-backing too much. 
Basic Notes:
You can throw him out of the startup of all Lariats and GHands but not SPD’s afaik - This makes throwing very risky. Naturally this may be considered as good to know but relatively useless because you really don’t even want to be in throw range anyways, though I find there are times where it’s me needing to claw back a lead, not him, so it’s worth noting. It’s also hilarious vs Lariat spammers who consider it the go-to wakeup / desperation move (Yes, some Gief’s are that bad) and we’ve all thrown Gief out of a GH from time to time.
If you’re going to use any Dashes of any description, use them so that you hit with the tip of the glove, no more. Going further is risking SPD punish. When using said moves, use LIGHT version, nothing stronger. Sometimes you have to keep the chip damage rolling but do not get predictable or you’ll eat a focus, NJ Headbutt or have it stuffed by normals.
It’s not a bad idea to pepper in Torpedo or DLB as they both have enough pushback to keep you out of SPD range if not meaty or deep - Some Gief’s WILL pepper the footsie game with focus just waiting for a bad bad dash punch. Either that or a NJump Headbutt which, as we all know, is one of if not the most ‘stun’ inducing normals in the game so if you’re going to DPunch, do it selectively. Just because the match is going on and not much is happening, that is no excuse to think, yeah, I’ll just lob out some pointless dashes.
Walking up to a TKD Gief then jumping back on wakeup can be used as a wakeup lariat punish (Jumping Fierce) but do not use it often, especially not with meter as you can be hit by EX GH while in the air and that leaves you with him having full control of your wakeup - If not, he’s in SPD range anyway. Do not jumpin on Gief, ever. Occasionally on wakeup can work as there’s a certain point where JFierce can stuff/prevent Lariat for a counter-hit but if you mess this up you will eat a Lariat - Overall it’s not recommended at all. Ultimately do not take the fight to the air, staying grounded is greatly preferred.
There is a certain range where you can blow up his meter-building lariats with a naked lgt.DUpper (Spacing dependant). Alternatively you can also blow up most lariats with an EX Upper but if you’re going to do this be damn sure you keep the followup combo airtight. Failing that, CRoundhouse or DFierce can also work after the first spin.
If you can outfootsie Gief into a point where most/all jumps are punished and his ground moves won’t work, keep him there. A Cornered Gief should be made feel like there is absolutely no alternative other than to walk at you, anything else should be ignored or punished.
Good giefs will have a Sweep or GH waiting for you during his mixups on your wakeup if you backdash (Option Select). Sadly, there’s not a lot Balrog can do to safely get away. Backdashes, jumps and wakeup moves like EX Headbutt are all risky but such is the guessing game. Your goal in the match is to NOT LET HIM HAVE YOU IN SAID GUESSING GAME. Each mistake costs you in arounds 1/5th or more of your whole lifebar.
If Gief is on absolutely no health he has no answer for an EX Headbutt other than EX GH and that, afaik recovers in arounds the same time as your HB allowing for a potential escape but overall I’ve mostly seen EX-HB win. In short, for those matches where you score a UTK or Knockdown and he has barely any health left enough for chip KO, you can EX HB for free if he has no meter, if he does and he just HAPPENS to use EX GH, that is the only option that you may lose to. Ulti, Lariat, GH, SPD, blocking, jumping or throwing will result in a hit and KO.
This likely does not work if they have U2, but I rarely ever see a Gief with U2 for the Rog matchup.
IMO, you should be very happy if he doesn’t pick U2, I’ve been grabbed out of ex.hb with U2, it’s pretty scary. And also meaty throw beats all of Giefs options unless he does lariat (non-ex spd doesn’t have any invincibility). I think the issue is developing a meaty throw setup that can actually grab him on his wakeup, the best i’ve come up with is below, and it probably grabs on frame 2-3 of his wakeup. Unthrowable specials are something else altogether though, they lose to meaty strikes.
[medio]11233[/medio]
I agree with this. Getting knocked down on the corner with gief having full super and u2 is not a very good situation to be in. 
Had this done to me before, I’m not denying U2 is as scary as U1 when facing Zangief - I’m simply saying I’ve rarely fought a Gief who actually uses it in the matchup oddly enough ^^
Hi! I would like to ask the scenario where you’ve been grabbed out of ex hb. Did you throw it as an AA or on wakeup?
It was as an AA, it seriously looked/seemed like he did it during my startup. I think that he just activated and went through my active frame because of his invincibility and then grabbed me after my throw invincibility was over or something since i think it’s active as long as its in the air. Haven’t recreated it in training mode though. It activates in [S]1f[/S] 3f so it’s entirely possible to TK.U2 in reaction to an ex.hb because of it’s 12f startup.
^ I see. Thank for answering my question. 
It’s very common to happen, my friend uses U2 often, and what is funny is, it grab it from behind, if you pass behind him with the hb he can catch you. it’s very scary, and i think in AE is much more powerfull than U1, because he can force you to jump because of the normal pile driver and then catch you with a predicted U2.
You can see it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYZ6pzNf7-M at 41:20
All I know is there was once a time I wanted to go for the chip finish and TAP into EX HB on Gief wakeup but it lost to U2, hence I stated where his only answer to EX HB chip damage KO on wakeup is EX GH (which will either cancel eachother, or HB wins) or U2 which will win each time. Guess it just has more invincibility than EX HB.