The 1984 Under 18 All-Valley Karate Tournament...
I'll never forget it.
I mean, you gotta remember, in 1984, there was no internet.
There was no YouTube, no ESPN+, none of that.
I mean, you either went to the movies, or you went to an actual karate tournament itself.
To this day it is...it's one of the most epic matchups of all time.
[ANNOUNCER]
It was the kick heard round the world.
Clearly, not only was it illegal, but it was violent and potentially deadly.
The ‘84 Tournament was definitely one of the most memorable ones because
everybody at the time, we all knew Johnny was the best.
It was like, Mike Tyson in boxing, Johnny Lawrence in local karate.
Well, let's put it this way. When you hear 1984, you're
thinking about Daniel LaRusso vs. Johnny Lawrence.
It's a global event.
The tournament was this epic battle where this kid,
who no one really knew who he was, unknown fighter, had no real affiliation...
You have Johnny on one side with Cobra Kai...
And this new kid comes in from New Jersey.
This, you know, dark horse Daniel LaRusso enters this tournament, and just kind of
took the whole thing by storm.
I heard he didn't even have a belt at the time.
That he stole a belt from a referee.
Belt or no belt, for a second there, it looked like Daniel
wasn't even going to fight in that final match.
[ANNOUNCER]
LaRusso had been hurt in the semis, and under rule 31-2
clearly, he only had 15 minutes to recover or else
he was gonna have to forfeit in the finals. And we all know,
15 minutes? That is not a lot of time.
From what I've heard ━ and I can't be sure of this
but I was told LaRusso's coach did some kind of Okinawan healing rub on his leg thing.
Nancy Kerrigan really could've used that in ‘94.
Going into the finals, no one really thought Daniel had a shot.
I mean, Johnny was a two time returning champ.
If you watch Daniel's early fights, he was all defense.
[TOMMY]
Get him a body bag?! What are we doing?
It didn't feel like Southern California in that gym on that day.
It felt like the Roman Colosseum or something like that.
[JOHN KREESE]
Sometimes I lie awake at night and I ask myself that. Should Johnny have swept the leg?
Of course, sweeping the leg is a very legal move.
It was dirty. I don't blame Johnny, that's not on him, he was a kid.
That's all on John Kreese as far as I'm concerned.
You know, there's no such thing as bad student, only bad teacher,
as taught by the great Mr. Miyagi.
And in this case, Johnny
was bullied by his mentor and karate sensei, John Kreese.
[JOHN KREESE]
[JOHNNY LAWRENCE]
[JOHN KREESE]
Mercy is for the weak.
I needed to present that what karate is,
is a discipline that will bring you confidence, because
you're not merciful.
If you think about it, your opponent has an injured leg.
You go for it. That's just good coaching.
You wanna talk about a dirty move? Let's talk about that kick.
I remember, you go into that final round, and things are
just, they were not looking good for LaRusso.
Like, he's limping, he's wincing. He'd gotten in a couple of good shots,
but the general feeling was like, the kid is done.
Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he lifts his arms and leg in some kind of bird ━
and I'm not doing it justice, but you know what I mean.
Like some kind of bird or something. I'd never seen anything like this before.
He does this standing bicycle kick thing,
Landing a devastating blow to Lawrence's face.
It was over in a matter of seconds.
And the crowd, you should've seen it!
Daniel was the best fighter that day.
He was the best around.
Nothing's ever gonna keep him down.
Yeah, I give props to Daniel LaRusso.
He fought a tough match.
Came back from a medical knockout.
You gotta remember, this was over a decade
before Kerri Strug at the ‘96 games.
It's unclear if it's even a legitimate victory.
You know the kick to the head.
There's, you know, there's debates out there.
Was it legal? I mean, who am I to say?
We can all play Monday morning quarterback if we want to.
It's real easy after the fact.
But the official on the mat, he didn't call it.
Well, of course the crane kick was legal.
I mean, the crane kick is literally why Daniel LaRusso is the Karate Kid.
No. You know, for 30 years I've been telling everybody that
Johnny Lawrence is the Karate Kid.
I think the crane kick took the world by surprise, and took all the judges by surprise.
This is right up there with Maradona's “Hand of God”
as one of the biggest missed calls in sports history.
We are here today, 36 years somewhat later, and we're still
having this conversation. That's just awesome.
Who really should've won? That debate rages on.
In 1984, you know, Daniel won, and uh...
you know, I think he gets the glory.
Johnny Lawrence...was robbed.
I think we'd all wonder and would love to know,
what if these guys fought again? What would that even be like?
What would it look like?
[JOHN KREESE]
Something tells me we're gonna get that answer sooner
rather than later.
[DANIEL LARUSSO]
[JOHNNY LAWRENCE]