Fighting Shows That Cobra Kai Fans Need To See

"Cobra Kai" launched on YouTube Premium in 2018 and became an instant hit for the network, though it wasn't enough to keep the service from pivoting away from scripted content following the release of Season 2 in 2019. After being canceled by YouTube, the series was picked up by Netflix, where it has become a nice feather in the cap of the streaming giant. Season 4 debuted on December 31, 2021, and the series has already been renewed for a fifth batch of episodes.

Based on the hit "Karate Kid" films of the 1980s, "Cobra Kai" follows the adventures of competing martial arts schools, and both the teachers and the students have their own storylines that play out over the course of the story. Being a Karate-themed show, the various conflicts frequently culminate in beautifully-choreographed action sequences that pit rivals against each other in both body and spirit.

As fans eagerly await news regarding "Cobra Kai" Season 5, there are plenty of other martial arts-themed TV shows to watch, as well as shows about young people kicking butt while navigating their own coming-of-age trials. These are our picks for fighting shows that "Cobra Kai" fans need to see.

Bruce Lee is fondly remembered as the greatest martial arts superstar of all time. His movies feature some of the best hand-to-hand fight scenes ever caught on film, and it's not an overstatement to say he's held in high esteem by every martial arts enthusiast in the world. The Cinemax series, "Warrior," is based on an original concept by Lee from the early 1970s.

"Warrior" stars Andrew Koji as Ah Sahm, a character who serves as an homage to Lee and his persona. Thankfully, the show is more than just a pastiche of Bruce Lee tropes and explores the history of 1870s San Francisco in the context of a hardboiled action show. Speaking of which — the action is incredible, with beautiful fight choreography and intentional nods to some of Bruce Lee's greatest cinematic battles.

The series was cancelled after two seasons, but thanks in part to an outpouring of support on social media, "Warrior" is returning in 2023 for a 3rd season on HBO Max. 

For eight seasons on the CW network, "Arrow" delivered the promise of a full-fledged action movie every week. Despite its minuscule budget compared to Hollywood blockbusters, nearly every episode featured at least one extended fight sequence involving a team of stuntmen (and series lead Stephen Amell) beating the heck out of each other. The stunts on the show are unparalleled and feature complex wirework, pyrotechnics, and other crowd-pleasing tools of the trade. Simply put, "Arrow" is a show that "goes for it" every week.

Unlike cable shows or streaming originals that can get by on only 10 or 13 episodes per year, "Arrow" always featured full seasons of at least 20 episodes. (The exception is its eighth and final year, which built up to the epic crossover event, "Crisis on Infinite Earths.") To achieve a high quality of action every week for all those years is nothing short of a miracle and a stellar achievement that few, if any, other shows can claim to have achieved.

For those looking to see what all the fuss is about, there's no better place to start than the pilot. But potential fans can also check out the 2017 crossover, "Crisis on Earth-X," which sees the heroes of "Arrow," "The Flash," "Supergirl," and "Legends of Tomorrow" do battle with the forces of Earth-X. In this alternate universe, the Nazis won World War II and wish to expand their conquest to all possible dimensions.

"Kung Fu" is often scorned for featuring David Carradine, a man with no Asian ancestry, as a half-Chinese warrior. But that aside, "Kung Fu" is a tremendously influential series that reveres the cultures from which it draws its Taoist themes. Likewise, racial troubles notwithstanding, Carradine is incredible in the role of Kwai Chang Caine, a Shaolin master and man of peace who nevertheless doesn't back down from a fight when bullies and bandits try to hurt innocents.

"Kung Fu" was groundbreaking for how it took Eastern philosophy and characters and transplanted them in an Old West setting, creating something truly unique that still holds up today. Well, for the most part. For viewers looking for a more modern take on the formula, the series was recently rebooted as "Kung Fu" on the CW network, with Olivia Liang as Nicky Shen — a reimagined version of Kwai Chang Caine, who uses her martial arts skills to protect the innocent people of San Francisco's Chinatown community. The new series was met with a positive reception and has been renewed for a 2nd season.

There's no way around this: The first season of "Iron Fist" was a colossal disappointment. While Finn Jones proved a solid choice for the role of the martial arts master, his real-life lack of martial arts training was painfully evident in the show's fight scenes, which looked rushed and lacked compelling choreography. This, of course, is on top of the numerous flaws in storytelling and characterization evident in the series. Fortunately, Season 2 fixed virtually all of the show's problems, but it was too late, and the show was canceled alongside the rest of Netflix's suite of MCU-adjacent shows.

Jones told Screen Rant, "For that 2nd season, we really, really worked hard to turn the show around. We put a lot of effort and energy into getting that show back to where it should have been from the start." To his credit, he succeeded — Season 2 of "Iron Fist" is an improvement over the original in every way, with Jones' fight scenes deserving particular praise for how much more comfortable he is as the martial arts master. While the fights aren't up to the impossible standard set by "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," they're still fantastic, especially considering their television budget. It's enough to inspire hope that Finn Jones might return to his Marvel role in a big-budget Disney production. Maybe someday we'll get to see Shang-Chi and Iron Fist kick butt together, side-by-side.

The only animated show in this story, "Avatar: The Last Airbender" follows young people with the power to bend the elements to their will, controlling powers like fire, water, earth, and air. The show debuted on Nickelodeon in 2005 and became an instant hit for the network. Thanks to its adult sensibilities, it helped pave the way for shows like "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," which similarly appealed to both children and adults with mature storytelling that didn't talk down to its target audience.

"Avatar: The Last Airbender" embraced serialized storytelling and season-long character arcs that were rare among kid-oriented television but are commonplace today. Also, the action is spectacular, with its anime-inspired aesthetics allowing for kinetic displays of elemental magic use. This critical and fan acclaim extended to the spin-off, "The Legend of Korra." Unfortunately, it's an aesthetic that did not translate into live-action since the oft-maligned "The Last Airbender" movie turned out to be a major critical and commercial disaster. Here's hoping a better fate awaits the live-action Netflix adaptation that's currently in development. Though given the fate of "Cowboy Bebop" and "Death Note," it's clear Netflix doesn't have the best track record when it comes to adapting animation into live-action.

Based on the 1980s Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling circuit, Netflix's "GLOW" follows wrestlers played by Betty Gilpin, Alison Brie, Sydelle Noel, and others, with Marc Maron as the director of the program. Maron plays a cynical and bitter man, which fans of his know isn't exactly outside of his wheelhouse. But he does a tremendous job in the series, which highlights the daily struggles of the wrestlers as they do their best to make sure they vent their frustrations inside the ring and not outside of it.

Netflix caused a controversy when it renewed the series for a 4th and final season and then walked back its decision and canceled the show after filming the first episode. The cancelation came amid concerns over COVID-19 protocols and related budget overruns. Since the show is themed around wrestling and features many scenes involving large crowds, it was not the kind of project that could be easily reworked to accommodate anti-COVID-19 measures. After all, it's hard to make a wrestling show where everyone stays 6 feet apart.

The final chapter of the "GLOW" story may never see the light of day, but fans will always hold out hope that they will someday receive some form of closure for the story of the gorgeous ladies of wrestling.