Mileena, because of her insane mixups.

Mileena used to piss me off when they would use her low kicks almost exclusively, but then i realized that a jump kick kills that strategy.

Ermacs used to piss me off when they would constantly force push me when i was midscreen, then they would lift me if i jumped at them or was in close range, but then i learned how to dash-block, stay on the ground, and pressure them by using cross ups.

Kung Lao's used to piss me off until i found a suitable counter pick in Cyber Sub-Zero. CSZ parry = Kung Lao's aggressive demise.

Kano's pissed me off until I found a suitable counter pick in Noob. Noob recovers faster after a shadow tackle then Kano does after a knife toss, therefore giving Noob an advantage in the a projectile trade.

As of lately I've been getting my ass handed to me by Skarlet users though. Not the ones that constantly spam the telly attack mind you, but the ones that correctly use her blood dash correctly and mix me up using either a slide, up slash or down slash. That shit is down right impossible to predict.

Jade is very hard for me. I suck really hard against her.

Kung lao gives me a hard time as well.

I'm convinced that Ermac, when played properly, is Smoke's worst match-up.

Kung Lao, Mileena, Baraka, Raiden.

Kung Lao and Mileena (who is becoming easier) kind of speak for themselves; I, for the life of me, cannot explain Baraka; Raiden teleport/sweep/torpedo/grab spammers... that's all I have to say about that (Forrest Gump voice). Everyone else is at least manageable. The "noob" characters (Scorpion, Smoke) are pretty predictable now, so I no longer have trouble with them.

I mainly play Kenshi and Cage (Nightwolf is a guilty pleasure), so these could just be match up disadvantages, but I really have no idea; I play whoever I want, regardless of the other player's pick. :p

Raiden... That teleport always switches up my special moves and cancels them. Also the wake up torpedo move is a bitch. I'll hold block and when he fails to do it makes me drop my guard then hits me with it. It's a fast and hard hitting movie that fucks me up. Another thing is Raiden's super thunder ball. It slows me down because i'm holding block which automatically gets a free throw on me. When I try to back flip away, I'm going to get hit with a torpedo.

FUCK RAIDEN

^Fuck him, indeed.

Well, since I main Shang Tsung, it seems to be any fast combo spamming character, such as Kung Lao and Liu Kang. However, I'm slowly starting to learn how to catch them off guard and keep them pinned down with my fireballs, so pretty soon I won't even have to worry about them. Oh, and possibly Noob Saibot as well; that little corner comber of his is fucking annoying.

Kano and Kung Lao

Kano always spams the shit out of his cannon ball, and up ball move. And Kung Lao always pisses me off with his spin move which I always forget about.

An honorable mention is Kabal. I usually have no problem with Kabal but every once in a while he can be a pain in the ass.

Kung Lao: I just hate how safe he is in every situation...
Sub-Zero: Not so much as Sub-Zero, but the HEAVY turtles, since i play agressively most of the time, that holds me back.
Mileena: Her Mix Ups are crazy as hell, i can never get used it for some reason...
Raiden doesn't give me a hard time, as before... but it's still frustrating to play Telport-Happy-Raidens.
and Finally...
Sonya: (WTF Sonya!?) She's barely used, so most of the time i don't know what the hell to do against her....

Dude totally agree, I straight up cannot beat a good to average level Sonya player if my life depended on it. I just don't know how to approach this match up. Gotta play more Sonya players I guess.

Other than Sonya, Kano is probably the most annoying to play against. Knifes until you get close enough to eat an upball.

Also Mileena's down 4 is such a pain in the ass. And when they mix up her enhanced moves its almost guaranteed I'm gonna eat a combo.

Kano-I have never turtled and dash blocked more in my life, even crappy Kano players give me a hard time, the constant knife throws and cannonballs ugh....

Kitana--Pinning down Kitana is like trying to pin down a crocodile with your bare hands, odds are you're going to get cut up pretty bad before you even get a grip on her. Great Kitana players control the air and can control the ground and up close with those pokes and fans.

My main is Kitana and I used to hate playing against Kano (before the patch 1.03). I haven't played any good Kanos post patch, so I'll see how it goes.

I'm also not patient enough when playing against good Noob Saibot players.

That's another one that frustrates me, I cannot get in if my life depended on it against Noob. When I play patient I get chip damaged to death because of his shadow clone pushback, then if I get aggressive and get in close, I get knocked back far with the shadow upknee, which hits you even if you're crouching or tripping someone, I thought it was anti-air

I know Noob is beatable and he's more of a zoner, but I'd honestly rather go up against Kung Lao and Raiden than a Noob player and that's bad

Noob has to commit. JUmp over his shadow spam, but stop short. Don't actually jump in against him. He will either be committed to that upknee, or a teleslam, or another shadow. Make your read at that point and punish accordingly.

Once your in, cross him up and lay into him with the biggest punisher you have. Noob cannot hang in-close at all.