im in G1 now and just like all the time in the past Balrog = auto loss
To beat Balrogz, you use teh hadouken, and in desperate times, teh shoryuken!
Hit him but don’t let him hit you.
use ur pokes at mid-range, what ive noticed, you could neutral jump on his wake up, vega has a pretty high jump, so he could whiff a headbutt. Scarlet terror his dash punches on reaction if u have good reaction.
You have to be patient. If he is aggressive do not throw out to many pokes. wait for him to act and you react on his actions. So if he charges do a s.HK. If he tries an overhead punch ST or s.HK. If he headbutts block and then punish with a c.mk h.ST. You can also do a EX.FBA if he charges full screen.
Do not jump in and do not go after him stay loose and wait. Don’t bother holding a charge much try to stay mobile and out of the corner. If they are over aggressive you can usually corner jump over him.
st.rh is your friend. It hits twice. It breaks armor
And this will sound weird but forget about your poke range. Only focus on his c.rh range. Learn its range and respect it. You want to stay just outside that range. If he steps forward, you step backwards. Anything he has to close the distance can be punished by a st.rh (4 frame startup) or ST EXCEPT EX Low. st. rh will only hit once on EX Low.
Once you get knockdown dont be afraid to jump in on Rog because his slow headbutt is ridiculously easy to safe jump.
Be careful with tick throws because most Rogs mash 3 frame jab and if you arent using a frame tight tick you’ll eat a jab combo.
Dont jump at a crouching Rog. c.hp and headbutt are both incredible AAs, with the latter leading into an unscaled ultra.
Dash punches arent safe, unless only the tip of his glove touches you. Punish ill spaced rushes. But its unlikely they will be throwing any out thats not in a combo because you have been punishing them with st.rh/ST right? 
Naked EX rushes can be thrown on reaction. Again, unlikely you will see many of these because…
Non EX headbutts lose to a meaty c.mk. After knockdown try to do a df+hk corpse hop into c.mk xx EX FBA. Its a neat lil trick that should not be abused. Use it maybe once a round depending on how dumb they are. But after you hit it once, sometimes you can FAKE a corpse hop then stay on the same side and trick em. Again, its a gimmick. Dont rely on this. If they guess right, you hurt.
Lastly, in desperation, some Rogs try to do EX Overhead. Throw it, block high then combo, ST, st.rh…take your pick.
For future reference, ask all questions regarding matchups in the matchup discussion thread: http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=205842
GO FOR THE KNEES
seriously…
bait headbutt, punish. Crossup on wake is a great way to do this. A LOT of Rog’s LOVE to heabutt you on wakeup… which is pretty much their way of sending you flowers thanking you for the beatings.
You need to dance with Balrog if you want to win.
You need to dash in and out, throw him, jump back fierce him, jump straight up and land with a roundhouse.
Pressure. Make him make mistakes. NEVER do ANYTHING on his wakeup. All Balrogs have some discernable pattern of headbutting. Figure this out and you’ve already won.
you can just vortex him to death. i mean really balrog isnt any thing special i tought about it and really Bison is a bigger threat than balrog ever was. All balrog has is random headbutt, which you can stuff unless its EX, he has a predictable stale pressure game, and the weakest ticks, and a Ultra combo thats crap because its 11 hit juggle combo. Nd to explain why vortex works on him if you time your wall dives and mix it up to which all you jump to you can just mind game him and punish any tap escape.
I don’t agree. Nothings gonna stop me from meatying him when he has no meter.
Not doing anything on Balrog’s wake up is a bad idea. As stated C. mk beats headbutts clean. Use this to your advantage, mixing up with throws, j out fierce, and KKK flip when anticipating a EX headbutt. All blocked headbutts are a free close fierce combo of your choice, and headbutts in the corner are a free reversal ultra for you if you block it.
The zoning in this matchup is very complex. As mangojoe stated you must respect the range of Balrog’s sweep. His other pokes are slower than yours so they’re not a problem. At your max poke range, you outrange his sweep, but you cannot react to dash punches. In this case, anticipatory neutral jumps (which imo are the best way to deal with dashes) can be stuffed by a headbutt. So actually, staying at max poke range can be a bad idea. One failed reaction means a dash punch, and he’s in your face. Try to stay at 3/4 screen.
The best ways to deal with dash punches are Focus (he can break it with a turn punch or dash smash though), st. RH as stated, a sweep, or neutral jump. Neutral jumps are great as they are very safe and you can combo into EX FBA for a severe punish. Sometimes he’ll go underneath you so try a c. lk xx EX FBA or c. lk, kara throw. Scarlet Terror breaks EX Dashes for free but you won’t be charging in that state very often.
as with all matchups, Play this matchup conservatively. Never charge when you’re on the ground: scarlet terror is useless if he’s standing in front of you ready to throw or meaty. Be ready to favor blocking low, while still being ready to react to an overhead as most Balrog’s try to use that combo into ultra out of desperation. When Balrog jumps in, which all Balrog’s should do once your down, as there is nothing you can do, he will use j. RH, and throw / jab tick mixups. This is a horrible situation made even worse by the fact that any time Balrog lands an ultra (which is not very hard to do) your are sent straight into the corner. This matchup is damn near close to a 7-3 simply because of this fact. You can keep Balrog out all day, so as long as you prevent yourself getting hit by a headbutt, you can net yourself a win. however, considering headbutt is such a great move, and that he can combo + confirm into it very easily, you will likely have a hard time until you figure out exactly when and how balrog’s like to headbutt. I lost against a Balrog local palyer 20 times in a row until I figured out how to prevent myself getting hit by headbutt, now he does not stand a chance.
A helpful tip for preventing getting raped by Balrog’s jab / throw tick mixups, is after you tech a throw, charge an ST and let it out. Sometimes a Balrog may be walking forward ready to jab again, or beginning a jump in, which will immediately get stuffed. Or if he is doing a dash punch, it will also get stuffed. Turn punch will beat you here but this is an unlikely move for a balrog to perform during this situation.
A smart Balrog will (against Vega) turn punch as often as he dashes to get in. Be wary of using your focus for this reason, but this is where your sweep comes in: it’s very easy to beat a turn punch with your sweep.
IMO I play this matchup very slyly. I get my lifelead and run away super hard, always staying at max range if I can. Barcelona is easy for Balrog to stuff with j. mp, turn punch, or headbutt, but you can screw with him enough to get a couple off. It’ll also help you a lot in running away but you need to be careful as Turn Punch can get you no matter where you go (but that’s if a Balrog expects you to whiff the move). After I have my life lead, I bait as many dash punches as possible, while any attempts at footsies to get in are simply avoided by running / wall jumping / barcelonaing. Stay out of max poke range as that’s not a great place to be. Once he has ultra, bait as many dash punches and headbutts as humanly possible. Try using meaty c. mk into flips to throw Balrog off guard.
With projectiles and jumps…so easy…
No Fear.
You must know yourself inside out, because you ARE Balrog
/corny joke end.
wait out the headbutt!
it’s never really that simple but if they have an ultra, be patient and never allow yourself to fall for a headbutt and it’ll save you a lot of the time
mangojoe and jozhear pretty much summed it up!
That was beautiful.