Get up!
You might have noticed in other fighting games that getting off the ground is extraordinarily dangerous, often leading to setplay where traps and hitboxes await you when you get up. TEKKEN's wake up system is nothing like any other game. It is robust and extremely important. You must be precise.
These techniques are best practiced by going into practice and altering the starting position to be on the ground. Or in the case of "teching" (below) make the CPU training dummy sweep you by recording the move or finding a move that knocks you down.
Things to Look for While Being Comboed
Now later in the Combo section (after the Movement section) we will go through the steps of combos and how to use them, but I believe it's far more important to understand how to bounce back first.
A launcher or starter of any combo typically hits when you least expect, but when you're in a combo because you didn't block and you're being tossed around, it doesn't feel good. Don't give up. Stay calm. Focus. The aim of a combo is to keep you juggled, unable to act, and to deal damage as well as take space away from you on stage.
The combo continues until you hit the ground and bounce slightly. The bounce can be picked up for a bit more damage, but odds are, if you're about to hit the the ground, you can do a "tech" get-up (also known as quick rising).
Simply put, hitting 1 and a direction as soon as you hit the ground, you'll do a quick getup. Some moves are so slow that if a combo is dropped and you tech it, you'll get a punish or at least an opportunity for a high-low mixup. This is almost always the outcome you want, so when starting out, just mash 1 on the way to the ground. The exceptions here are if your opponent calls out your tech, you can get relaunched suddenly with a mid, so sometimes it's best to not tech.
For times when teching isn't in the cards...
For Starters
You're on the ground now. Odds are, you are face up and feet towards opponent. Things you can do change a little based on if you're face down or head towards but the following information is more than likely true.
JUST HOLD BACK.
Aris breaks this down in the above video, but ultimately, the safest wake up option is holding back. In other TEKKENs, this would kill you. But, this option is a godsend for new players. It is quick, it blocks while standing, and it gets you back on your feet to continue fighting and controlling space.
HOLD UP, THEN BACK.
This option is slightly faster, is more vulnerable during the animation, and can get you blocking and moving again. This one is way riskier than just holding back, but it has it's place, such as when you need to be standing to punish. But odds are, if that's the case you could...
CHILL ON THE GROUND FOR A SECOND.
That's right. In TEKKEN, you don't have to get up. If you get knocked down and hit nothing for the rest of the match, you will not get up. What? Why would I want to stay on the ground?
It low-profiles many attacks, meaning if your opponent was setting up a launcher - attempting to predict your wake-up maneuver - it will more than likely miss. It also gives you more time to devise the best strategy to get up with and what to do after. Many of the things that are valuable from this position will be listed in the advanced section, but you can easily hold up or back for the same results as described above.
The danger of being on the ground for prolonged periods isn't even that bad in many cases. Typically speaking, you can see a lot of big damaging moves coming at you and you can attempt to react accordingly. And if you're hit even just slightly, your body bounces, allowing another chance at teching.
TOE KICK
Input as d+3. One of the safest interrupting options use to catch an opponent setting up a mixup. It's quick, you get up, but orbiting heels and anything that swallows lows will win. Can also be low parried (more in punishment section).
ROLLING IS ALSO GOOD
Rolling, done with 1 or d+1, will cause your character to stand afterwords. Simply put, it's a solid option positionally. Say you're against the wall and your opponent whiffs as you roll away, now you are both parallel to the wall, a far more favorable stage position.
These options listed above cover most of the spectrum for options and game plan, but below are a few special shoutouts and specific cases. Use with caution.
Advanced Get-ups
SPRING KICK
Input as 3+4. It's a way to super call out a running pressure situation where the opponent isn't going to sidestep at all before approaching. (You should pretty much always sidestep before approaching thanks to this and other attacking wake up options.) Some characters have 3+4, 1+2. This is for a specific type of spring move where you go very far and ddive head first.
LOW/MID KICK
Input as 3 for a low kick, 4 for a mid kick. These are less safe attacking wake-up moves. Use with caution, but are great for blind pressure. The 4 is a far reaching kick, which can beat out poorly spaced sweeps. The 3 is basically a harder hitting d+3, but in almost all cases you should probably just d+3.
ROLL OVER
Input as D+1 (holding down and 1). You'll roll over super far and enter face down. There are more options out of this state and honestly it's super matchup and character dependant. Do research!
FRONT ROLLING
Inputing forward twice quickly (ff). It's a way to get a bunch of space back and roll forwards quickly if your opponent is very far away. Very very dangerous and is very unsafe. But has niche use, like when you know your opponent is about to do a jumping move on run-up pressure, and the wall is behind you. You call that very specific situation out, you've got them against the wall. You can do a few attacks out of it as well.
HOLDING FORWARD ON KNOCKDOWN
When you hold forward, you'll do a stubby quick kick on the way up. Very vulnerable, but good for stuffing close-up mixup strings. Use with caution.