Cobra Kai’s Tory Needs to Win the Sekai Taikai Tournament

Cobra Kai’s sixth and final season is gearing up to be all about the Sekai Taikai Tournament, the biggest worldwide tournament in karate. In the first five episodes of the season, Daniel (Ralph Macchio), Johnny (William Zabka), and Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) are busy training the kids to fight. However, when they learned that only six fighters could represent each dojo in the Barcelona-held tournament, they enlisted the help of Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) to be an impartial sensei.

He put the kids through a set of rigorous tests, whittling down the competitors until they had the six chosen ones. But in a major twist in episode five, Tory (Peyton List), grieving from her mother’s death, gets upset and quits. She re-emerges in Barcelona with Kreese (Martin Kove) as one of the fighters competing for his reinstated Cobra Kai dojo. Even though she’s not part of Miyagi-do anymore, some fans still think Tory is the most deserving to win.

Which Cobra Kai Characters Could Win the Tournament?

The six competitors who initially made it into the tournament for Miyago-do were Sam (Mary Mouser), Miguel (Xolo Maridueña), Robby (Tanner Buchanan), Devon (Oona O’Brien), Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo), and Tory. With Tory quitting, her spot was offered to Hawk instead. Robby won the fight between him and Miguel to be team captain, and Sam won by default since her fight with Tory was cut short when Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) learned of Tory’s mother’s passing and urged them to stop.

On the Cobra Kai side, along with Tory, are two standouts: the delinquent Kwon (Brandon H. Lee) and the top student Yoon (Daniel Kim). If the tournament is split by gender, however, that means Tory’s only competition is Sam and Devon. For the guys, while Hawk and Demetri both clearly want to win, they don’t seem as desperate for it as the others. Ever the underdog, Miguel needs the win, so he has something noteworthy to put on his university application resume. Robby, however, needs victory to prove his worth to himself and anyone else who doubted him or thought he wouldn’t amount to anything. With no aspirations for college or university and no academic prowess, this is really all Robby has.

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For the ladies, Sam has something to prove to herself and perhaps even to her father and Mr. Miyagi (the late Pat Morita). But Tory has been put through the wringer the entire series. While she has undoubtedly been a bully, she has arguably had the toughest life, too. From an absent, likely abusive father to a mother who fell ill when she was young, Tory has been trying to balance being a teenager with being a surrogate mother to her little brother for many years, taking on much more responsibility than any teenager should ever have to do.

She has had to hold down any job she could, often multiple jobs, while still trying to keep up her grades and her karate studies. As she handles this struggle, she sees other privileged kids like Sam skate by easily. Tory doesn’t have parents to lean on, and at every turn, is considered the villain or even viewed as one before people get to know her.

When she finally gets a win, Tory discovers that Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) paid off the refs, thus cheapening the only time she actually felt on top of the world. It doesn’t help that Kreese is constantly in her head about how she’ll never be number one as long as Sam is around, and no one will ever respect her as much for the fighter she is. No wonder Tory decided to join Kreese, believing he might be her only chance to win.

Why Fans Want Tory to Win in Cobra Kai

The situation is murky since fans want Tory to win but don’t want her to win for Cobra Kai. However, if others recognize how much Tory needs this, her friends (and former friends) might be happy for her that she wins, regardless of which dojo she’s tied to. Miguel doesn’t have an easy life either, but at least he is surrounded by a loving family, including his mother, grandmother, Johnny, soon-to-be new little sister, and unofficial stepbrother Robby. Speaking of whom, Robby has had his share of awful situations, including living with his neglectful mother and being estranged from his father for much of his life.

But Robby, too, has found some happiness. He has a new pseudo-family with Miguel and a renewed relationship with his father. He went through a bad period but seemed to have come out on top, even if he still needed to figure out his life after high school. The bottom line is that fans would probably be equally happy if Miguel or Robby took home the win on the guy’s side.

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Tory, on the other hand, has yet to have a real win. Any time it was a legitimate fight, Sam beat her. Now, with the loss of her mother, Tory has never been more alone. She has people trying to look out for her, like Amanda. But Tory’s vulnerability makes her fall prey to more convincing people like Kreese.

Tory continues to make bad decisions due to manipulation and thus shouldn’t be punished. Interestingly, Cobra Kai serves, in part, as a redemption story for Johnny, who arguably wasn’t a villain in The Karate Kid after all. As this story presents, he was just an impressionable young man being manipulated by Kreese. Tory, in essence, is the new Johnny. And she has the chance to rewrite that tale, especially if she wins despite Kreese, not because of him.

What Cobra Kai Fans Have to Say

There’s a lot of talk about Miguel vs. Robby and Sam vs. Tory. If there are separate female and male divisions, fans are on the side of Tory for the former, and some think Robby deserves to win for the latter. Why? So the two can fulfill the promise they made for themselves in the beginning to win together.

Redditor Asheto320 says they want Tory to win just to show that “both styles [of karate] have their benefits.” AppealWeak9081 adds, “that girl has been fighting her whole life just to survive,” alluding to the comment Tory remembered from her mother when she was a little girl. Her mother told her she needed to fight in this life, and Tory is taking it literally, in the only way she knows how.

Yankees7687 points out that everyone seemed more concerned about karate than Tory when they discovered that her mother had died. “Not one single person was like ‘Hey, f**k this competition and choosing captains right now. Tory very clearly needs us more than anything right now.’” For that reason, they believe she was justified in walking out and would be justified in giving the win to Cobra Kai.

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Nonetheless, some believe because Sam is tied to Daniel and because of the long history of Miyagi-do, it would make sense for Sam to win instead. “She, along with Daniel, have their identities wrapped so closely with Miyagi-do,” writes Redditor Forward-Piece-8421, “it likely matters a lot to her to carry a big title for the dojo and her family name. It could be a great arc.”

One especially poignant comment, however, suggests that Tory’s redemption ironically needs to come without a win. “For her to move on and live positively without relying on a trophy for her self-esteem or to solidify her future would be a start,” writes After-Ad-3806. “The likelihood of her winning such stiff competition is slim, and she needs to begin to set new, healthy goals for herself.”

Thus, when it comes to winning or losing, perhaps the most important thing for Tory is not whether she wins or loses the Sekai Taikai Tournament. It’s that she gets the redemption she deserves and becomes a better person, no matter the outcome. Once she works on herself, Tory could easily become a force to be reckoned with on the mat. She’s young and has lots of time to hone her skills. For now, personal growth is the most important storyline for the character. You can stream Cobra Kai on Netflix. Episodes 1-5 of Season 6 are available now, with five more episodes coming November 15, 2024, and the final five on an unconfirmed date in 2025.