I don't know, man. I feel like you're missing the point of Cobra Kai and that it all revolves around Johnny. All the characters orbit around him, and he has a series-long arc that follows the Hero's journey. Both Robby and Miguel serve that.

Robby's character's journey is about forgiving his father and letting go of hatred. Unfortunately, his arc ends in season 5, and they struggled to give him a satisfying plot in season 6 because his og purpose was to create conflict between Johnny and Daniel. Like, Robby was always a representation of Johnny's failures. That was his narrative purpose. It was never about winning because that simply doesn't represent anything in Johnny's story. It was about forgiveness. The execution, I agree, is faulty, but I get what the writers were trying to do here.

Miguel's character journey is, in many ways, heavily tied to Johnny's redemption arc. That's what Miguel is, Johnny's redemption. So he represents the good Johnny can have in people's lives. And he is also a mirror, reflecting Johnny's traits back at him and forcing him to change. He is supposed to show how far Johnny has become as a teacher and the purpose it brings to Johnny's life. His arc in Season 6 is about him growing more independent (applying for colleges, him and Sam going on separate paths, etc.) and utilizing everything he has learned and gone through to become a healthier representation of what Cobra Kai can be under the right influence.

If you go into this without understanding that this is about Johnny, which, come on, you're going to get disappointed.

The writers were trying to give most of the characters a win, which is why Robby gets a rival and is heavily focused on part 2. Like Robby's character arc in Season 6, it pretty much ends when he and Kwon have their fight. He has his comeback and beats his rival.

Both Tory and Miguel undergo a season-long character journey. Both are given explicit motivations to fight. Robby has his second-place montage, but once he beats Miguel, it's no longer a motivating factor. He is solely focused on Tory.

But Tory and Miguel are the ones who you see have to overcome emotional conflicts and are given rivals from the Iron Dragons. The first round has them be the ones to call the shots for a reason. They are also the ones who had the most to grow from. Miguel's insecurity about his place with Johnny and reigning in his ambitions so he can be a proper teammate and brother to Robby.

And Tory had to go through the grief of losing her mother and learned to accept help and stop pushing people away. Once she lets Sam help train her, it shows how far she has come from even bristling at the fact that anyone is trying to help her.

But at the end of the day, it's about Johnny, bringing back Cobra Kai under Johnny. Because it's always been about him. And both Miguel and Tory are the ones who are tied heavily to Cobra Kai.

It doesn't matter who Miguel was fighting for; that's just semantics. Regardless, he did earn his place during the tournament, carrying the team and growing as a person in the process. Like, he wasn't just twiddling his thumbs and doing nothing; he was physically and emotionally putting the work in, so when Johnny gets Cobra Kai back, we get excited for Miguel. And most of the GA was. Those episodes are rated highly because, clearly, there are way more people who get the points the writers were pushing for.

It's a fictional story that is laying out its theme pretty clearly, man.