The “Cobra Kai” showrunners wanted Part 2 of the show’s final season to end feeling like the “Empire Strikes Back” of the story, and the all-out brawl that broke out at the Sekai Taikai tournament certainly achieved that.

The show has featured a number of off-mat fights in previous seasons but Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Scholossberg told TheWrap they didn’t just want to play the hits this time around. They said it was the skill level – and that it’s students and senseis alike in the mix – that makes this brawl so much more dangerous.

“What makes it more dangerous, what makes it more interesting to look at is the fact that we’re in an environment where every single person in that room is a black belt, and they’re all the best karate fighters in the world,” Heald said. “What if we built up the...