Much of the movie deals with an elaborate scheme concocted by Terry Silver, an old war buddy of John Kreese, the disgraced karate instructor from the first Karate Kid. Silver and Kreese want to get revenge on Daniel Laruso for winning the All Valley Karate Championship, the event that led to Kreese's downward spiral. First, Silver hires Mike Barnes, whom he finds advertised in a magazine as "karate's badboy," to antagonize Laruso and force him to enter the next All Valley competition.
Barnes's name suits his character. His first and last names have only one syllable each, resulting in a sort of bluntness that matches his belligerent attitude. In a word, his name is punchy.
Next, Silver offers to train Laruso, apparently just to inflict physical pain on him before the competition takes place. When Laruso shows up at the old Cobra Kai dojo (which Silver claims he's trying to revive) in order to accept the offer, Silver suggests they start immediately and lends Laruso a gi with a cobra on the back. Throughout the days of Silver's aggressive training, Laruso wears this cobra-adorned gi in the Cobra Kai dojo, visually highlighting a change in his character that he himself later realizes. He tells Mr. Miyagi, "Everything you taught me, I did the opposite. Everything. I couldn't have been worse. I did everything wrong."
