I believe it's supposed to be near instantaneous to the point that you don't even see the normal come out. Your character just jumps forward and grabs. Input the normal immediately before the grab.
So as much as I'm loving Hugo I feel like I might have to drop him because I can't do SPDs on a reliable basis. I was okay in SSF4 with grapplers because of the shortcuts but 360 inputs on pad are a pain in the ass. I suppose I'll just keep practicing
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skull