If someone for example had never seen how a double leg takedown close the distance in a way that not be counter easily (especially if is the first time you confront that) and how the body mechanics work,then I think it will be a little hard to apply the principles there.think that the more 'self defence' you learn and 'drills' you train in can be very restrictive in your mind and can therefore restrict your self defence. Thats why principles are are far more important as they are totally unrestrictive and a natural way to learn how to defend yourself. I've always thought that most self defence can be whittled down to just a handful of good effective moves and the rest is just variations on a theme. A lot of people make good money often teaching crap IMO
If you don’t believe it please find any black belt in BJJ take another black belt in Wado that trains only against straight punches and never seen how this guys train and fight and see what happen...How easily can apply the principles or not.
I still believe that if you take the principles of Wado and train against other type of attacks and not only straight punches and that’s its it will be only for the better...