JuicyTalk
WARNING: Spoilers for Cobra Kai season 6, part 3.
Cobra Kai’s penultimate episode addressed Johnny’s defeat in the 1984 All-Valley Karate Tournament and finally explained why a previous champion was defeated by someone who had trained for six weeks. While Cobra Kai’s later seasons brought in characters from The Karate Kid Part II and The Karate Kid Part III, the show was always a legacy sequel to the original Karate Kid movie at its core. Even when Daniel and Johnny were on good terms, Cobra Kai would constantly remind us of how losing the All-Valley in ’84 changed the trajectory of Johnny’s life.
In Cobra Kai season 6, episode 13, Johnny finally told Kreese how he felt about not only losing the fight but being betrayed and abandoned by his sensei. This made it clear that losing to Daniel was not necessarily what ruined Johnny’s life – it was not having any support after that. While talking to Miguel the day before the Sekai Taikai finals, Johnny explained that knowing what to fight for is just as important as how good you are, which is why Daniel LaRusso was able to win despite his lack of training.
Johnny Lawrence Knows Why He Lost To Daniel LaRusso In 1984
Johnny Was Fighting For The Wrong Reasons
While season 1 Johnny Lawrence blamed his defeat on an illegal kick, the version of Johnny we see at the end of Cobra Kai knew exactly why he lost to a far less experienced fighter. According to Johnny, he was fighting for revenge during the tournament after what Daniel put him through. Whether Daniel is to blame for some of the things that happened in The Karate Kid is a different debate, but the fact is that Johnny brought their personal issues into the mat. Daniel, on the other hand, wanted to honor his sensei’s teachings.
Johnny admitted to Miguel that he did a lot of bad things to LaRusso ahead of the tournament, yet Daniel did not use their fight to settle their score but rather to prove that no one could get the best of him. Someone that determined and with such strong beliefs could not be defeated, and Johnny eventually understood that. Although his was a great lesson to Miguel, who was about to fight Axel and wanted to avenge Robby, it was also a full-circle moment for Johnny that confirmed how much wiser he was now.
Cobra Kai Confirms It: Johnny Was A Better Fighter Than Daniel In The Karate Kid
It Took A While For Daniel LaRusso To Catch Up
Johnny’s conversation with Miguel may have explained why Daniel won the tournament, but it also confirmed that Lawrence was the better fighter in The Karate Kid. Despite Daniel winning most epically at the end, Johnny Lawrence was superior. Older and more experienced, Johnny had a lot of skills that Daniel wouldn’t pick up until later in the series. Johnny did point out that Daniel eventually caught up with him, but there is no debate that Daniel was the underdog in the original film.
Related
The Strongest Fighters In Cobra Kai Officially Confirmed
Cobra Kai season 6, part 3 featured the final rounds of the Sekai Taikai, ultimately revealing the show’s best fighters among the many candidates.
The fact that Daniel became so good after just a few weeks of training shows how great of a student he was but also how fantastic Mr. Miyagi was as a teacher. However, in the end, what settled the outcome of The Karate Kid‘s tournament was how Daniel was ready to do whatever it took to show his bullies that they couldn’t bring him down, including fighting with an injured leg. Johnny acknowledging this at the end of Cobra Kai could not have been a better way to end the show.
Cobra Kai
5/10
- Release Date
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2018 – 2024
- Network
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Netflix, YouTube Premium
- Showrunner
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Jon Hurwitz
- Directors
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Hayden Schlossberg, Jon Hurwitz, Joel Novoa, Jennifer Celotta, Steven K. Tsuchida, Sherwin Shilati, Marielle Woods, Steve Pink, Lin Oeding, Michael Grossman
- Writers
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Josh Heald, Ashley Darnall, Chris Rafferty, Bill Posley
