Warning: SPOILERS for Cobra Kai season 3
Cobra Kai season 3 ended with a set up for season 4’s All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament, which will be the most important one ever. By the conclusion of Cobra Kai season 3, John Kreese (Martin Kove) realized that he and his Cobra Kai dojo are facing both Daniel LaRusso’s (Ralph Macchio) Miyagi-Do and Johnny Lawrence’s (William Zabka) new Eagle Fang karate dojo. What’s more, Johnny and Daniel have agreed to combine their dojos and students in order to settle their feud with Cobra Kai at the next All Valley Tournament.
The Karate Kid was, essentially, a sports movie that culminated in the 1984 All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament. After LaRusso suffered a five-on-one disadvantage against Johnny and his Cobra Kai high school gang, Kreese agreed to a deal offered by Daniel-san’s new sensei, Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki “Pat” Morita): Cobra Kai would leave LaRusso alone to train and he would compete against them in the All Valley Tournament. Though Miyagi set a realistic goal for Daniel-san to make a respectable showing, LaRusso made it to the finals and defeated Johnny to win the championship, ending The Karate Kid in an uplifting emotional high. Daniel successfully defended the title against Cobra Kai’s handpicked hitman Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) in The Karate Kid Part III, and, Cobra Kai season 1 ended with Miguel Diaz (Xolo Mariduena), the top student of Johnny’s resurrected Cobra Kai, winning the 50th Anniversary All Valley Tournament.
There was no All Valley Tournament in Cobra Kai seasons 2 or 3. In the absence of the event, the violence between the teenage students of Cobra Kai and Daniel’s Miyagi-Do dojo alarmingly escalated, from a wild food court brawl to a devastating fight at West Valley High that ended with Miguel hospitalized with life-threatening injuries and also scarred Daniel’s daughter, Samantha (Mary Mouser) both literally and figuratively via PTSD. (Perhaps not coincidentally, The Karate Kid Part II also had no All Valley Tournament, and that film marked the escalation of the movies’ violence.) Cobra Kai season 3 saw even more brutality, with Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) breaking Demetri’s (Gianni DeCenzo) arm, followed by another insane brawl between the dojos’ students that trashed the LaRussos’ home in Cobra Kai season 3’s finale, “December 19”.
The mounting chaos prevalent in Cobra Kai seasons 2 and 3 underscores how important the All Valley Tournament really is. Without the event and its structured rules of engagement, the various karate kids of Cobra Kai continually resort to “street karate” that settles nothing and only elevates their animosity. What’s more, it’s vital that the students, regardless of which dojo they’re affiliated with, have something to train for that also forces them to adhere to the respect, control, and focus karate is supposed to teach them, which they immediately toss aside with their back-alley brawls.
Cobra Kai season 3’s ending crucially raises the stakes of the 2019 All Valley Tournament, since the current hostilities between Miyagi-Do/Eagle Fang and Cobra Kai are untenable. Just like in the original Karate Kid, a deal was struck between Senseis Kreese, Lawrence, and LaRusso: If Cobra Kai loses the tournament, Kreese promises he’ll go away, which would finally rid the San Fernando Valley of Kreese’s poisonous teachings. Whether or not the villainous sensei actually will live up to his word is another matter, but it creates a goal that Johnny and Daniel need to achieve. For Kreese, the chance to use his students, especially his newest prize protege, Johnny’s son Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan), to humiliate all of their enemies can’t be missed.
In Cobra Kai season 3, episode 8, “The Good, The Bad, and The Badass,” all three senseis along with Miguel and Samantha argued with the city council and successfully overturned its ban on the All Valley Tournament. The event is especially meaningful to the teenagers: Miguel is the defending champion while it would be the first competition for Sam and her arch-rival, Tory Nichols (Peyton List), who will no doubt face each other, this time with rules and for points. Miguel will also likely fight Robby, who he beat for the championship, in a rematch of Johnny’s “sons.” Because Cobra Kai has become increasingly violent as the series continued, the All Valley Tournament in Cobra Kai season 4 will not only settle all scores (perhaps for good) but it should also determine who really is the series’ best karate kid.
