vs Zangief

Statistics:
Stamina: 1,100
Stun: 1,100
Fighting Style: Russian + American Pro Wrestling
Fighter Type: Grappler

vs Zangief: 4 - 6
Pros: Slow speed, weak to U2.
Cons: Great mix-ups, high damage output, high stamina, good reversal, good normals.

Move List:
Flying Body Attack - Good cross-up move, used in okizeme mix-up.
Double Knee Drop - Quick hit with a light attack to change the rhythm on his okizeme mix-ups.
Headbutt - Highest stun normal. Two hits and you're out like a light.
Long Kick - Like his normal sweep with extended range and longer recovery.
St.HK, cr.MK - Moves him slightly forward. Can be used to whiff or on hit to set-up for grabs.

Spinning Pile Driver (SPD) - 2f command grab. Very high damage, sets up for okizeme.
Flying Power Bomb (FPB) - Slow and can be avoided if used from far.
Banishing Flat (BF) - BnB, all versions not safe on block. EX used to beat out WK. Also used to move him around faster.
Double Lariat (DL) - Reversal, upper body hitbox.
Quick Lariat (QL) - Like Double Lariat, but lasts shorter.

Final Atomic Buster (S) - Does high damage for a Super, alternative grab to his U1.
Ultimate Atomic Buster (Ultra 1) - For mother Russia! Tremendous damage and comes out real quick (2f).
Siberian Blizzard (U2) - AA ultra, performed in the air.

Preferred Ultra: Breathless
Throw invul. Goes under QL and DL. Also, Zangief without meter has no way of breaking Breathless armor. IMO Breathless is the utility Ultra of choice in this match-up

Character Videos:
M5-2 Supreme (ABE) vs. sk0111 (ZAN)
KOG (ZAN) vs pikagoma (ABE)
Nekojita (ABE) vs Itabashi Zangief (ZAN)

Strategy:
The strategy here revolves around keeping him out. You have a small array of tools to use and they work well, such as cr.MK, st.MP, st.HP, jp.HK. Spacing is very important. Try and bait Zangief to do a move they can punish or to take a risk which is in Abel's favor (not many situations like that though). Remember that TT is throw invul, so pepper that into your offense. Risk reward is not in your favour though so majority of the time just work to keep him out and push him away.

Contrary to this advice however, getting backed into a corner is not where you want to be. Corners limit your spacing potential and quickly loses you any advantage you have in the match. You'll want to aggressively get out which makes you predictable which is not a good place to be either.

Turtling in this match is bad especially in a corner. Good Zangief players are excellent at spotting the maximum range for their SPD which is very far. Corners limit your spacing potential and quickly loses you any advantage you have in this match. You can always try to get out using EX roll, EX COD and TT.

Flipside:
Zangief has to find ways to get close up and score his knockdown. He has a variety of tools (normals and specials) to do this. Once he gets his knockdown, he begins his okizeme mix-up games with Body Splash into DL, normal links to EX BF or SPD.

Notes:
- Zangief's at close range like to walk in and spam st.MP, st.LP and/or cr.LP. Very hard to counter-poke unless you can EX COD. Try neutral jp.HK or just block low and try to react to whatever he tries next. If he wants to push you into the corner, try and back jump out quickly to free up space.
- Most Zangief's use his st.HK to move forward with the aim to whiff it and catch you on the surprisingly quick recovery of the move. If you anticipate this, a cr.HP on reaction will catch this.
- Zangief's Lariat is one of his best off/def specials he has against Abel. It prevents you from jumping in on him, beats most of Abel's normals at close-range and is mostly safe on hit. With the nerf in SSF4, crouching Abel won't get hit by lariat and his sweep can safely hit Gief.
- Lariats can be punished by using st.MP at max range if he spams it too often. Alternatively, use LK WK for more damage if the range is slightly further.
- Wheel Kick is a useful tool in this matchup as an anti-air and anti-lariat move. Good Zangief's can EX Banishing Flat on reaction so watch out if Gief has meter. You can play mindgames with this by trying to bait out EX BF then punishing with TT. Never use HK WK; this is punishable almost 90% of the time unless hit from max range.
- TT has throw invulnerability; it can beat out any of Zangief's throw specials INCLUDING Zangief's U1 and U2. Use sparingly as good Gief's would expect a TT and do a jump to bait it out. I'd recommend not using TT much in this match at all as the risk to rewards isn't worth it, though an occasional quick dash to TT works. If you suspect an empty jump-in and have balls, you could risk a TT.
-Abel's WK beats normal BF clean. You can also punish BF with TT on block. Bait out BF by standing about one-and-a-half characters away from Zangief on his wake-up. EX WK beats EX BF at the right timing. Good Zangiefs already know this so they won't be tempted to do this much unless you spam WK too often.
- Abel's cr.MK beats out Zangief's jumping normals except for his angled jp.MK (trades). St.HP can beat this too (must do early). Falling Sky may be a good response; even if it trades, Zangief is knocked down so you can push him away and relieve some pressure.