After over two months of inactivity, the Armbar Express returns…. but not for wrestling (not that I’ve haven’t been taking notice of the product mind you). I’m returning because of a Death Battle! coming up that has intrigued me. Now before this website became wrestling exclusive, I did a couple of blog posts related to Death Battle! Other than a little bit about Goku vs Superman, I turned my attentions to the Shao Kahn vs M. Bison fight in the battle between the fighting game villians. I predicted that the Shao Kahn would smash the Shadowloo dictator’s face in and come out on top in the Mortal Kombat vs Street Fighter battle. For those of you that haven’t watched that video before, I won’t mention who won (However if you did, I will provide links to my preview and reactions to that fight later on in the post). But now there’s another fight between the two fighting franchises with their two most iconic fighters (Damn. Can’t Tekken get a fight in the Death Battle arena? Jin or Kazuya vs the winner?)
Scorpion, the ninja from the Mortal Kombat series vs Ryu, the world-travelling warrior from the Street Fighter series!
Let’s start with Ryu. I’m not gonna lie, I know much more about Scorpion than I do about Ryu. However, I do know that Ryu certainty isn’t lacking in fighting experience! When the warrior Gouken found the orphaned little Ryu when he was young, he taught him the art of fighting. Ryu dedicated his life to fighting from that point forward. After training with Gouken and his rival Ken Masters, Gouken decided that Ryu should travel the world to hone is training even further. Ryu eventually found his way to the World Warrior tournament and earned the right to challenge the very dangerous Sagat. After being beaten half to death, something inside Ryu snapped. It was the Satsui No Hado!
The Satsui No Hado (which I’ve had a horrible time in spelling over the years!) amplifies the power of the user immensely, but at the cost of what remorse and honor he had in him. It comes from one’s darkest roots and the desire to win and be the best can push one’s anger to the point when they are willing to kill to achieve the pinnacle of fighting. Unfortunately for Ryu, after Sagat beat the shit out of him, the power engulfed him. He then delivered a huge Shoryuken to Sagat, scarring his body to achieve, in Ryu’s mind, to be a cheap victory in the tournament final. Disgusted with the nature of his win, Ryu swore to suppress the power and overcome the evil that caused him to almost kill Sagat.
He continued to fight around the world, trying to become even stronger and push his fighting skills beyond anything he could imagine. He’s been able to duke it out with some of the strongest of Marvel universe like Captain America and Wolverine, fought the god Asura and had the balls to challenge Magneto, Dr Doom, Super Skrull and Dormammu by himself in that one Marvel vs Capcom 3 trailer! I know that’s not canon. I just really felt the need to state that. He’s one of few people to have defeated M. Bison and beat Akuma as well I think at one point. One things for certain, Ryu will do whatever it takes to get stronger.
However, Ryu’s taken A LOT of beatings over the years. M. Bison, Sagat, Akuma, Kazuya Mishima (non-canon. I just wanted to reference Tekken!) and so forth. He’s won World Warrior tournaments but against some of the stronger opponents in the Street Fighter world (and Tekken!), he’s been outclassed. Even with the Satsui No Hado, “Evil” Ryu has hardly any control over himself in this state and that can cost dearly for Ryu in the Death Battle field. Another weakness for Scorpion to take advantadge of – Ryu hates spiders….
Now we’re on to Scorpion!
Hanzo Hasashi was a member of the Shirai Ryu Clan (ironic clan name!) when his family and clan were taken from him. From that moment, Hanzo became the vengeful hell-spawn Scorpion willing to do whatever it takes to avenge the deaths of those he cared about… by killing anyone dumb enough to get in his way. And unfortunately for the first Sub-Zero… he was dumb enough.
Scorpion continued to stroll down the evil path, believing it to be the only way to get back his family and clan… oblivious to the real mastermind behind his pain and suffering he’s endured for so long. It was revealed to Scorpion that his master Quan-Chi was really the one responsible for the deaths so many years ago. Scorpion began hunting down Quan-Chi for revenge, bringing him to the Netherealm to exact his revenge. Ever since, Scorpion’s been more of a tweener in the Mortal Kombat universe. It didn’t matter if you were the forces of light or darkness, there wasn’t a warrior that Scorpion wasn’t willing to fight.
Having been resurrected in the Netherealm many years ago, Scorpion’s power and strength is increased the longer he stays there (which is like the opposite of Superman in a way!) So bringing any opponent to this realm would increase Scorpion’s chances ten-fold. That’s why he brought Sub-Zero there to kill him in the first Mortal Kombat tournament. However, don’t think he’s not just as bad ass in any other realm either…
He’s always found a way to survive in the Mortal Kombat universe, even after being trapped in a powerful soulnado by two hellspawns! It would of killed most beings in the Mortal Kombat series… but not this Spectre! He managed to escape and eventually became the Elder Gods champion to defeat the Dragon King Onaga. They empowered Scorpion tremendously in return of his clan being resurrected, but before Scorpion could act Onaga had already been slain. Therefore, the Elder Gods had returned the clan back as undead hellspawns like Scorpion. Enraged by the gods betrayal, Scorpion sided with the forces of evil once more to get revenge against the gods. Scorpion had become one of the strongest warriors in the realms, but was not spared from the horrors of the battle of Armageddon… until Raiden reversed time and changed everything.
Regardless of what timeline he’s in, Scorpion has proven to be a very capable warrior. He’s battled the Demi-God Taven, the Thunder God Raiden and has even fought Superman! But Scorpion’s rage has often gotten the best of him and has been more of a burden to Hanzo’s life. He’s more of a follower than a leader though. He’s not really been one to play the Game of Thrones in the MK realms. He’s only really fought for the sake of one day bringing his clan back. This has caused Scorpion to choose his allies poorly over the years. But what he lacks in judgement, he makes up for with his ruthless mentality in battle and has more than one way to finish off an opponent.
Now, I’ve went into a lot of detail for both fighters. However, like the Kahn/Bison fight, the winner of this fight was already clear in my head… Scorpion.
Scorpion is after all, a hell-spawn. Undead. He was brought back from the depths of hell to battle demons, gods and sorcerers. Ryu is simply human.
A martial artist who’s very keen on fighting. Yes, he’s supernaturally strong and powerful. He’s able to unleash energy blasts and attacks like few in his world can. But the worst he’s ever come across is extremely powered killing machines. The worst Scorpion’s ever come across is… a god. In my opinion, Scorpion already has the speed advantage being a ninja and all, being ten times more agile than the street fighter with his supernatural powers. Especially with how strong he’d become by the end of the original timeline in Mortal Kombat. With his power enhanced by the Elder Gods, Scorpion became one of the strongest warriors in the realms. And those are realms filled with demons, gods… and sorcerers.
Now I haven’t forgotten about Ryu’s ultimate trump card… the Satsui No Hado. True, it’s been proven that the form could make one powerful of punching a mountain into two! However, that feat was done by Akuma. Just because he can do it, doesn’t mean Ryu could either. Ryu’s capabilities are down to his own personal experiences. Akuma’s has mastered that form for years. Ryu still struggles to maintain it’s power, which has been at times dangerous for the World Warrior. Should he use it in battle with Scorpion, he may get a couple of good shots in. But I don’t see Ryu being able to kill Scorpion with this form.
There’s the raging demon, I know, which is supposed to destroy someone’s soul. The important word in that sentence is, “supposed”. Souls have survived the attack before! M. Bison survived AKUMA’S Raging Demon with his soul intact. There’s no reason to say Scorpion couldn’t either. After all, he is a hellspawn that survived a soulnado! I don’t see Ryu living to see another day in this bout.
The winner… is Scorpion!
See also….
The Armbar Express 