Zangief wakeups

i generally do ok i would guess as zangief, im a C player. But yesterday before I was vs a heihachi/hwoarang team, and i litterally couldn’t do anything to get back up. at all. EX piledriver was getting interupted, lariat was a waste of time it didnt help at all, i couldn’t even crouch block, pop some jabs than throw em, i just couldnt get up at all, ex powerbomb usually works but when its gone i got nothingagain

bear in mind im a noob. Looking for tips/help

Right, first thing: stop mashing EX throws on wakeup! You can do that once in a blue moon, but both are not the quickest.

What were you hit by? Jumps? Sweeps? Throws?