Jeff Cobb is confident that he can be viewed as a successful wrestler without going to WWE.
In recent years, Cobb has been one of the most buzzworthy names in the wrestling world. He was widely viewed as one of the top stars in Ring of Honor during his time there. After a very brief pit stop in All Elite Wrestling, the former Olympian focused his efforts on his work with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and he has thrived there ever since. Still, like most other renowned wrestlers, Cobb entered the business with the mindset that he had to sign with WWE in order to truly make it big, and it took time to evolve beyond this belief.
During an appearance on the Wrestling Perspective Podcast, Cobb explained that he eventually realized that WWE wasn’t the best fit for him; though he refused to knock the company, he belives his style doesn’t mesh with the company. Plus, despite the promotion’s prior interest in him, he came to understand that plenty of great performers have never signed with WWE.
“I think it was right after my first tour with [New] Japan, where I was like you know what, maybe WWE isn’t for me,” said Cobb. “Which is weird because the 30-plus years prior was all about, ‘Oh, well I need to go to WWE or WWF.’ And I’m not knocking, and I have a lot of friends that are there now and more power to them. I will not knock them for anything. Why would I knock something that’s providing for a lot of people that I know personally? But I just feel like for me, it’s just not me, it’s just not for me. I asked this to bunch of people as well, I wanna say maybe like two-three years ago, or probably in the last year or two, was. ‘Is my career defined if I don’t go to WWE? Like is it a failed career?’
“And a lot of the feedback I got were people that were from WWE, not in there now but that have worked for WWE, saying no. They were telling me like, ‘Your career isn’t less valued if you don’t go there.’ There’s been a lot of amazing people here that haven’t gone to WWE that are amazing Hall of Fame-level wrestlers in the world. It doesn’t take away. I mean Jushin Thunder Liger wrestled one match for WWE. Does his career mean less? No. It’s just, he chose not to go there. So I kind of feel like the same would be for me.”
Cobb went on to explain that he’s not in the wrestling business for the money, as it’s not the most important thing to him. He emphasized that he’s happy with his career, and he stands by his choice to avoid going to WWE.
“Money’s not the end-all[and] be-all for me, thank goodness,” said Cobb. “I’ve been very fortunate to where I can make a great living and not have to be there, and still kind of do what I want. And I wouldn’t give up my time for money, really. Again, ask me tomorrow I might change my mind. [laughs] But no, I’m very happy where I’m at. I definitely feel I made the right choice with not going there.
When asked, the former NEVER Openweight Champion made it clear that creative freedom is more important to him than financial gain. He stated that if he only cared about the money he would have signed with WWE when they were interested in him, but he opted not to.
“Definitely the creative freedom,” said Cobb. “If I wanted to just chase it for the money, I would have signed with WWE last year, but I chose not to. Just because again, money’s not the end-all be-all for myself, that’s not where I’m at in my life right now.”
Cobb continues to shine in NJPW, and many fans are excited to see what his future holds.
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