In the show, if I remember correctly, they referred to Daniel as the only two-time champ. If you remember from the first movie, Johnny was the defending two-time champion...so they both won twice.
I can't remember where it was in the show that I heard this, I hope someone remembers and can verify the inaccuracy of the show with this.
It is not a big deal, but it does diminish Johnny's accomplishments a bit.
I thought Johnny won once in 83, wasn't he the defending champ in the karate kid
shareAt the tournament in the first movie, the announcer says that Johnny is the two-time champion.
shareOh ok I'll have to have a re-watch
shareJohnny was the defending champion in 84. He is announced as a two time champion but Daniel is/was the first person to win back to back titles (84 and 85).
When you look at this though it makes Johnnys feat quite something. If he won in 1983 then he must have been only 16 at the time. If he didn't win in 82 then it must have been 81 which would have made him only 14 at the time.
Is that what is said, that Daniel was the only back to back champion?
Because in the first movie, the statement is just that Johnny is the two-time defending champion. There is no indication that Johnny lost in-between his wins.
I did some more investigating...yes, I am bored...and it seems that there is some information suggesting that Vidal won in '81 over Johnny, leaving Johnny to win in '82 and '83. This makes Johnny also a back to back champion.
https://thekaratekid.fandom.com/wiki/Darryl_Vidal#Season_3
I think it was just an error in the show, if in fact, they do say that Daniel was the only one like I thought they did.
In KK3 it is said that Daniel is the first back to back champion.
From the script:
The winner and the first to ever win
two years in a row...
...the grand champion, Daniel LaRusso.
Johnny lost to Bobby in 82 according to some sources and I'm sure it is mentioned somewhere that Bobby is a former All Valley champion. But here is another excerpt from the original Karate Kid script this time:
Defending champion,
John Lawrence of the Cobra Kai.
Two-time winner of the All Valley
Under- Golden Trophy.
The mistake here would seem to be Kreeses recollection in Cobra Kai
*Edit: I think I know what you meant now about Kreese making the mistake. Maybe instead of '81, he meant '82. This would mean that Johnny won in '81 and '83, Vidal in '82, Daniel in '84 and '85. That would be consistent with saying that Daniel was the only back to back and that Johnny did indeed win twice. Now, I am still not sure if the show refers to Daniel as the only back to back or the only two time winner. Either way, something is wrong here (and from people who have done way more research than I have, on the wiki, it says Johnny won '82 and '83.)
I think you are agreeing with me that the show and the first movie are conflicting and so is the karate kid iii
Yes, in the original movie, the first karate kid, Johnny is referred to as the two time defending champion.
Therefore, based on the first movie, he won twice.
Johnny won twice and Daniel won twice based on the actual dialogue heard and the events shown, with conflicting dialogue from the third movie. He wasn't the only back to back champion because Johnny did it as well because somewhere I think it says that Vidal won in '81. I think Kreese says Vidal won in '81.
Cobra Kai has messed up other details regarding what was said in the movies about the past tournaments. One being that in the first movie, Bobby was the runner-up to Johnny in the '83 tournament. The announcer says this in the movie.
In the Cobra Kai show, I believe they say that Tommy was actually the runner-up and that Bobby ended up in third place.
So there are discrepancies between what was said/shown in the movies and the show. Which of course, isn't a major deal, but the fact is that Daniel isn't as special if Johnny in fact won back to back as well.
The Karate Kid wiki even supports this idea. It doesn't mention Cobra Kai messing up that Daniel is the only two time champ, but does verify that Johnny won twice using the information gathered from both the show and the movies.
Could also be that karate kid iii messed up too. I mean, it's already ridiculous that Daniel is out of high school, in December, participating in an under 18 tournament. Not to mention Barnes had to be over 18 considering he's for hire and just end up living with Terry Silver. People in the karate realm would know he's over 18 too.
Who knows what's going on with the writers over there, you are right, it is already messed up by the third film so who cares if the writers don't follow it exactly
Agreed
shareRegardless, there’s no way in over 4 decades of the tournament there would be just one two-time champion. Lazy/stupid writing.
shareI agree with this too.
shareMaybe not necessarily. I would think the tournament would probably be won most often by the oldest students at 17, so they shouldn't be eligible the next year.
shareWas the age limit that low? If so then yes, I could see there being few two-time champs. But my statement stands, over a greater than 4 decade span one would think there’s be more than one double-winner.
Then again, I have no doubt that in the USA there are long-time karate tourneys for high-school age (or perhaps up to 21). So there are REAL stats on this out there.