Right, but those five people he plows through are -- obviously, since he's plowing through them -- obviously not his equals. My point is, very specifically, that all else being equal, someone with greater strength will win a fight. Just like, all else being equal, someone with greater speed would win a fight. Or greater anything, if the two were completely equal in every other way.
There are techniques out there, and yes entire martial arts, that are built around not relying on strength. But if you know those techniques, are a true master of them, are as expert in them as whoever it is you're fighting against, and have strength anyways, you've got an edge. When you do X, it will be a little harder to stop. When you do Y, it will be a little more damaging. When you do Z, it will be a little harder to get free from.
I'm not saying strength is all that matters, but I am saying that strength can matter. Every reputable fighting organization in the world breaks their matches down based on weight classes for a reason, y'know? Bruce Lee worked out hard to add strength (not just speed, not just technique) to his toolbox for a reason. I know about diverting a punch just enough to make it miss (though I did it with knife stabs, instead), about conserving power, about harnessing the incoming attack instead of stopping it...but I just can't buy it when someone says strength doesn't matter at all.
If you take two martial artists, of any art, who are otherwise exactly the same -- same skill level, same mental focus, same capacity to withstand discomfort, same speed, same experience, same reach, same everything -- and one is stronger than the other...he'll win. He'll have the only edge in the fight, by definition.
Usda, even you said that your issues with WCD didn't come from your physical strength, it came from your mindset about that physical strength. Being powerful wasn't your problem, having to "rethink how to apply that power" was.
At any rate, I think the whole thread's been derailed by someone picking out my one line of text, "all else being equal, being stronger isn't going to hurt you in a fight," and that wasn't my intent (which is why I tried to say "all else being equal" several times)...when I think we're in general agreement on how to stat up Systema for a Shadowrun game.