Kurama's Fighting Ability
Ever notice that in nearly every Dark Tournament match Kurama wins, but he nearly dies in the process? But outside the Dark Tournament (first season, and that time he and Hiei were kept out of the match in the forest) he totally kicks butt! Sure there's the fight with Suzuka's team where he wins easily, but if it weren't for that he'd look like a total wimp! (And even then he does a little because he lets his compassion get the better of him and gets all tripped up). I've actually seen/read/heard people call him a wimp - like my bratty cousin and my brother David! So now I would like to defend his honor...
Kurama, especially as Yoko, is probably the most powerful and dangerous member of the Urameshi team. If you don't believe me believe the show. Several fighters, including Hiei, say something along those lines. During the Dark Tournament (when Yoko first emerges) Hiei tells Kuwabara he became partners with Kurama so that he would never have to fight him. And is season one in the fight against Genbu in Maze Castle, he tells Kuwabara that the fight only looked easy because Kurama was the one fighting, if it had been someone else they would have died quickly. Even in "The Three Eyes of Hiei" when Hiei calls Kurama a traitor he doesn't dare attack him.
So why does Kurama get so badly beaten up in the Dark Tournament?
Well, it all comes down to that thing Hiei said in "Genbu: The Stone Beast". Kuwabara said he had thought the fight would be hard, but it was over really quick. Hiei responds: "It only looked easy because it was Kurama who was fighting. If that had been you, you'd be dead."
Think about it. How did those fighters in the Dark Tournament manage to injure Kurama? They played on his compassion and cheated, or were extremely powerful.
The first, as many fighters point out, is Kurama's compassion. In the match against Onji's (Suzuka's) team (Team Uriatogi was it?) Kurama's opponent says he had studied Kurama closely and found his only weakness was his compassion. It was his desire to help his apparently remorseful opponent that caused him to become trapped. Likewise, in his first Dark Tournament match, it was his love for his human mother that almost proved his downfall. Both of these demons also cheated.
And the others were very powerful. Think about it, match anyone else up against the makeup master or Karasu and they would have died. Hiei might have beaten Touya thanks to his fire, but he never would have made it through the makeup guy.
So in this case, it isn't that Kurama is weak, it's that he volunteers for the difficult fights because he is the only one who stands a chance.
And just in case you lost sight of that fact during the Dark Tournament the writers throw in the part in the third season where he defeats Elder Toguro. Elder Toguro is impossible to kill because of his shape shifting powers. But Kurama manages to put him out of commission forever, trapped in torment by the tree of Hallucinations. Yusuke couldn't defeat him, Kuwabara didn't really though he let them think Kuwabara had at first, Hiei's dragon probably wouldn't have done much better - and yet Kurama manages to do it.
So the writers remind us that Kurama is the best. Go Kurama!!!