Johnny’s New Dojo Shows Why Cobra Kai Is So Cool

Warning: SPOILERS for Cobra Kai season 3.

In Cobra Kai season 3, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) founded a new dojo – Eagle Fang Karate – and its hilariously awful name underscores how undeniably cool the Cobra Kai brand is. Johnny had to regain his mojo as a sensei in Cobra Kai season 3; although Sensei Lawrence successfully resurrected Cobra Kai, his ex-mentor, John Kreese (Martin Kove), returned and stole the dojo from him. Thanks to his own student, Miguel Diaz (Xolo Mariduena), Johnny realized that being a sensei was his destiny, but coming up with a cool new concept for a new dojo was easier said than done.

As Cobra Kai season 1 revealed, Johnny originally joined the Kreese’s black and yellow dojo when he was 12, and he rose to become Cobra Kai’s top student and a two-time All Valley Under 18 Karate Champion. The one-two kick of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) beating him for the title in 1984, coupled with Kreese attacking and trying to kill Lawrence in the parking lot after he lost the finals, soured Johnny on karate. Lawrence’s life was never the same after the awful events of his senior year in high school – Johnny also broke up with his girlfriend, Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue), who dated LaRusso – and he spiraled for decades. It wasn’t until Johnny hit rock bottom in 2o17 that he decided to bring Cobra Kai, and, in effect, himself, back to life. Starting with just one “hopeless nerd,” Miguel, as his student, Johnny rebuilt Cobra Kai into a success, and he coached Diaz to become an All Valley Champion, just like Sensei Lawrence was.

In Cobra Kai season 3, Johnny helped Miguel rehab from the spinal injury he suffered at the end of season 2, and Lawrence’s offbeat methods actually helped Diaz regain the use of his legs. But Miguel is just as much of a positive force in Johnny’s life and he made Sensei Lawrence realize that he made a mistake by giving up teaching karate. Johnny agreed and decided to become a sensei again, but the problem was coming up with a name and logo that would be as “badass” as Cobra Kai. Thankfully, Miguel immediately shot down Johnny’s horrendous idea of starting his own Cobra Kai but with “Cobra” spelled with a K – Kobra Kai Karate. The duo decided to let Miguel handle recruiting new students from West Valley High while Johnny solved his dojo concept dilemma as he simultaneously failed to secure a new space for his new dojo.

When the first class of Johnny’s new dojo assembled in a public park, Sensei Lawrence unveiled his karate school’s new name and logo: Eagle Fang Karate. In Johnny’s mind, the only animal (not a “fake” one like a mongoose) that can kill a snake is the mighty American eagle, and the bird would do it with its deadly fangs, not that Sensei Lawrence wants to hear or cares to know that eagles don’t have fangs. However, Eagle Fang’s red, black, and white hues are striking and cool, so Johnny has good taste in color schemes, even if he doesn’t care whether Eagle Fang’s custom-made T-shirts properly fit all of his students.

Naturally, Johnny is swept up by how his new dojo’s name and logo are suitably “kickass” so he’s totally oblivious at how funny and idiotic Eagle Fang is – yet, his new brainchild is still perfectly Johnny. However, Eagle Fang does have a way to go in terms of credibility, and the confused look Daniel gave Johnny the first time he heard the name “Eagle Fang Karate” as they both, along with Kreese, argued to un-cancel the 2019 All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament, was a spot-on reaction that was appropriately hilarious.

Kreese may be evil, but his creation, Cobra Kai, with his black and yellow color scheme and chrome snake logo, remains inarguably cool. Indeed, the magnetism of Cobra Kai’s brand has been an issue LaRusso was unable to surmount in Cobra Kai season 2. Unfortunately, the Miyagi-Do name and its placid and soothing bonsai tree logo just don’t have the visceral impact Cobra Kai has. Meanwhile, Eagle Fang is so ridiculous that it actually becomes kind of cool as a result, and, in the real world, fans can actually purchase Eagle Fang merch, which boasts the absurd slogan, “Bite Like An Eagle!” Still, Eagle Fang isn’t on the same level as Cobra Kai, and the fact that Netflix’s series will never be renamed Eagle Fang is the final proof of that.

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