Kabal beats Kung Lao for sure, Kabal is the best character in the game and when played perfectly it is impossible to lose with him. Kabal beats almost every character in the game from any position on the screen. He has normals that give him +9 on block and dash cancels in which it is always a 50/50 guess that you have to guess to poke out or you have to guess if Kabal is going to end his block string with a special move OR you have to guess if he isn't even going to cancel his dash and let it rip. It's retarded. His overhead hookswords and his low buzz saw special moves make it so that everytime Kabal does a block string on you, he can end with either of those two special moves so you have to guess to block low or high. Or he can just dash cancel bullshit. Literally everytime Kabal touches you is a mix-up. Let us not even discuss Kabal's zoning. He is consistently building meter off of everything he does whether it is zoning NDCs or being attacked. Kabal doesn't even have EVEN match-ups, let alone losing match-ups. So Kung Lao vs Kabal is definitely 4-6 in Kabal's favor. If you want me to go more into the Kabal vs Kung Lao match-up details, Kabal can literally IAGB so close to the ground that it is hard for Kung Lao to get in, and when Kung Lao teleports Kabal has enough time to stop IAGB and punish the teleport if the Kabal player is doing the IAGB good enough. So basically every single teleport can eat EX Nomad Dash, and Kabal always has meter. Literally ALL of Kung Lao's special moves on block can be full combo punished by Kabal. Sure Kung Lao has a spin to stop Kabal's pressure, but are you really going to just randomly guess a spin that if it gets blocked, Kabal will launch you for 35+% into F+4 into dash cancel into standing 2 NDC and more pressure? This matchup is not even lol. People do not understand that yeah some Kabal players lose because he is kind of an execution heavy character and people mess up his shit, but if Kabal is mastered and played perfectly and got max damage off of all possible combos than I don't think Kabal would even have a 6-4 matchup, everything would be 7-3 or higher in his favor.
Cyrax could be argued 5-5 or 4-6 in Cyrax's favor, but Cyrax definitely has more options in this matchup and it is alot more comfortable for Cyrax. His anti-air grab helps alot vs Kung Lao's teleports and jumping around dive kicking etc. When Kung Lao starts his offense vs Cyrax, after all of Kung Lao's block strings Cyrax can just d1 before Kung Lao does anything else so it is hard for Lao to keep his offense going. The ONLY way for Kung Lao to stop Cyrax's d1 after a block string is to spin, but again the spin is VERY risky vs Cyrax because a blocked spin can lead to a 100% combo. If Kung Lao has a breaker, and spins, and Cyrax blocks it, Cyrax can just do 2~net than perform a 60% unbreakable combo on him basically saying "Fuck your breaker Kung Lao" lol. Kung Lao won't even get a chance to use the breaker he has. Kung Lao definitely has to use his mobility to the fullest in this matchup, and he is not helpless vs Cyrax, but Cyrax definitely has slight advantage. I have been playing both characters for a long time now and have played this matchup in particular from both standpoints many of times. In conclusion I will say 4-6 in Cyrax's favor.
Cage is also another match-up that can be argued 5-5 or 4-6 in Cage's favor. But let's be serious here, when is the last time anyone has ever even seen Kung Lao beat Cage in a tournament? Can anyone name one? I can't, but I can name multiple times where Cage has beaten Kung Lao in tournament. But to get into the match-up, Kung Lao players usually like to play rushdown and a more close-up perspective fighting game. But, Cage is the best rushdown character in the game and he wants to be in the opponent's face the whole entire game, that is the goal for Cage. This makes it kind of a struggle for most Kung Lao players, you can't really rushdown like you want to in this matchup. You have to lame Cage out. But let's be serious here, some Kabals, Freddys, and Kenshis have trouble laming Cage out.... What the fuck is Kung Lao going to do to lame Cage out? lol it is really tough. Low hats and straight hats aren't going to keep Cage out forever. This is definitely one of Kung Lao's toughest matchups. When Cage gets up on you, you need to try to 21 out of his pressure because Kung Lao's 21 is much faster than all of Cage's strings. Cage also has alot of frame traps that keep you committed to block and some frame traps Kung Lao can spin out of, but also Cage can just bait your spin and full combo whiff punish. Another thing very annoying about Cage is his low hit box, which is another problem for Kung Lao that makes 21 whiff and alot of 1121 whiff on Cages' crouch block. NEVER random teleport on Cage you will get blown up by back dash standing 1 or backdash b3 every single time. Sometimes you can rely on spin to get out of Cages favor, but than again a spin on block will get blown up badly and lead to 30+% and nutpunch reset. Back into Cage's pressure all over again ):
Kitana can be argued as 5-5 or 4-6 in her favor, but either way it is still only slight favor to Kitana. If you could use .5 I would say 4.5-5.5 Kitana favor. I don't really feel like going into the matchup right now, you can ask @gga 16bit
Nobody ever said Kenshi was a bad matchup
My list currently states Sonya matchup is even, but I see where alot of people are coming from when they try to say Sonya favor. It is arguable either way
