The free agent rumor mill continues, this time with speculation that New Japan star, Jeff Cobb could potentially be in talks with the WWE, according to a report from Fightful Select. Cobb, a former Olympian in amateur wrestling, represented Guam in the 2004 summer games, but finished with an undistinguished stint on the amateur mat.
However, even though he broke into the pro ranks in 2009 at a later age than most, it only took him a few years in sports entertainment before he got noticed by the more prominent organizations. He signed with Lucha Underground in 2015, working for the promotion almost until it folded in 2019. During his stint on the lucha show, he began to work many of the more well-known groups on the independent circuit, and had a few appearances in Ring Of Honor before the group was eventually sold to Tony Khan.
He found his biggest success when he signed with New Japan in 2017 and during the past eight years has been one of the most consistent performers for the organization. Truth be told, Cobb is more or less tailor-made for success in New Japan as a big agile powerhouse foreigner.
Cobb had a few appearances on All Elite Wrestling programming, but that was during the crossover with New Japan built around their Forbidden Door events during the past few years. Again, truth be told, unless Cobb is offered an amount of money that he simply couldn’t realistically say no to, which is possible with Tony Khan, it seems like AEW wouldn’t be the place for him, especially given the track record of how NJPW talent was used there, aside from those that were a part of the core group at the initial launch.
You can’t blame the performers, because making the most money possible is the entire point of the pro wrestling business, both for the talent and for promoters, but at the same time, Tony Khan has cherry-picked almost every top guy that New Japan had since he started his wrestling project to supplement his already bloated roster. The problem is, All Elite didn’t become the American platform for some of the best in-ring workers in the world, which if done correctly could’ve truly made AEW standout as the alternative national promotion in the United States, but rather a place where the majority of those acquisitions either got lost in the shuffle or settled for mediocrity.
Aside from Will Ospreay, and until recently Kyle Fletcher, Jay White, Lance Archer, Katsuyori Shibata, Kazuchika Okada, Juice Robinson, and others have fallen into either of those two categories.
Because of that, I don’t think it would be unrealistic to expect that if Cobb inked an All Elite contract, he’d be spotlighted for a few weeks before he possibly ended up in the witness protection program of the Ring Of Honor project on the Honor Club streaming service with its almost zero exposure. Granted, names like Juice and Mark Davis had injuries at certain points, but the common theme throughout the vast majority of the roster, regardless of where they worked previously, is inconsistent television exposure. There are truly only a handful of talents that get any type of consistent television exposure, with it being almost comical how many talents, despite their legitimate skills, disappear for months at a time without any rhyme or reason. The 32-year-old Jay White is in the prime of his career, and has already proved that he’s a legitimate main event talent, but more often than not, he’s a secondary figure within the landscape of AEW. Okada mailing it in to a Booker T in TNA level is a different discussion for a different time.
As mentioned, it’s always possible that Cobb gets an offer too good to turn down when his NJPW deal expires, but if it’s comparable money, All Elite Wrestling might not be the place for him to increase his value as a commodity in the industry.
Could Jeff Cobb be successful in the WWE?
On the surface, absolutely, he checks all the boxes for what the WWE looks for in terms of physical skills to promote a superstar. He has size, agility, and power, which might be simplified in the WWE as far as the presentation, but that doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be very successful with the WWE machine behind it. Sure, Cobb isn’t known for his promos, but New Japan isn’t built on mic work so it’s not as thought he doesn’t have a chance to be solid for promos in the WWE. In some ways, I think the way that Bronson Reed was being portrayed before his serious injury from the dive off the top of the cage at Survivor Series could be somewhat of a template for Cobb to be highlighted successfully. It might be as simple as allowing Cobb to use his power and size to be presented as a credible monster within the scope of WWE. For example, the splash from the top rope for Bronson Reed is a simple maneuver, but it was presented as a major spot on television, and if the time is taken to establish something, it’s possible to get even the most basic concepts put over as legitimately important aspects of the program. It’s a unique commodity for an athlete the size of Reed to have the agility to dive from the top rope so why not maximize the impact of its importance on the show? In a similar fashion, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Cobb’s “tour of the islands” spinning slam could be pushed as a unique maneuver that could help establish his character to the WWE audience.
Sure, it’s rather simple, but if it’s effective then that’s the measure of success as far as establishing a new talent for the audience.
Obviously, it goes without saying that only Cobb knows what’s next for him, and he’s scheduled for next month’s Windy City Riot event for New Japan in Chicago so at least for now, Cobb will remain under the NJPW banner. That being said, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to see him eventually end up in the WWE. It’s a puzzling situation in some ways because a guy with that level of talent should be on the WWE radar, but at the same time, it still seems like there’s more for him to do in New Japan, specifically a run with the IWGP Heavyweight championship. As I said, Cobb is the prototype for the powerhouse foreigner that can excel in New Japan, similar to Giant Bernard, who was previously known as A-Train, and Scott Norton the generation before that. At a time when New Japan still finds its roster very thin from the previously mentioned departures to All Elite, elevating Cobb to the main event scene might boost the depth of the organization.
If I had to guess, I’d say that Cobb will eventually surface in WWE, but that could also be determined by the amount of time he has left on his current Japanese deal. At 42, Cobb definitely still has at least a few more prime years of his career left, but at the same time, he would have to arrive in the WWE system sooner rather than later to be able to realistically maximize his run there. I’d also say that it could be equally as possible that he remains with New Japan for the rest of his career, assuming that can continue to offer him decent money, and he might actually be better off in the Japanese organization, as he’s a bigger fish in a smaller pond at the moment so he might have a bigger overall run in New Japan than he would if he shifted his path to a WWE career.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
