Lots of variables: head weight/shape/metallurgy/surface finish; handle material/shape.
I've been swinging splitting tools since the late '70s and am 5'11" 195 for background. I split all my fuelwood by hand, with a wee bit of noodling for bad forks/knots.
Lessons I've learned:
head weight of 5-6.5 lb works best for me, for splitting wood; for kindling a 4 lb (real) $25 Council axe works well- don't need more tools, or any plastic handles.
hickory handles feel best, once lightly sanded of lacquer; plastic stuff feels wimpy
better mauls are made of better- tougher- steel, as in Wetterlings/Mueller/Council and others such; they survive serious pounding on/with their polls
head shape is, literally, the ball game here, as turn_n_burn also notes. Must be sharp.
I got a ($155) 3 kg, 6.6 lb, Mueller maul 3+ years ago. It worked at least an order of magnitude (10x) better than my previous box-store bludgeons, with its flat 30 deg cheeks.
I took my 7" disc grinder to those 5-8 lb bludgeons, to flatten their faces and give them an edge to mimic the Mueller. Huge improvement, just can't overcome mediocre metallurgy of some. Still the 8 lb maul is definitely inferior in performance to the 5-6 lb tools. Should it go rogue, like on an oops, it's much harder to stop it before crushing a shin. (Yes, I swing any maul aggressively.) Now, it's a sledge with one pointy face.
Then I found a deal on a Wetterlings 5.5 lb maul. Works very nicely for $110. Very sharp edge, like the Mueller. That's what chopping blocks are for. Very nice handle- could be a couple inches longer.
Then Bailey's had a deal on a 6 lb Council Tools (USA) maul, delivered, for $25. That's not a typo. Couple minutes with a dremel & sanding drum to blend the faces near the edge, and it's part of my A-team, with the Mueller. If I'd only known. My Council maul is a "sledge-handle" version. They also make "axe-handle" versions, both in 6 & 8 lb.
Of course, it got a couple minutes attention from a sanding block, for blister-prevention. $490 for a splitting-axe? Pssst, I've got a bridge available cheap.
When I get a maul "stuck" in a round, that's not a problem. First, on any serious billet, I make hits on my intended split-line, with the last one nearest to me. Depending, I either pound on it with the poll of another maul, or pivot it around so I have a clear shot on the opposite part of the split-line, with another maul.
IOW IMO a "stuck" maul is like a driven wedge on a stick. No harm from driving it through the billet. Just mind your toes.
For more difficult rounds, or when time is limited, noodling in a bar's width makes it lots easier to halve and quarter those rounds with wedges. Turns out, that made it simple for some interns to do some of my work. Load & go.