Jeff Cobb admitted that he considered retiring from pro wrestling following his WWE release at the start of May. Cobb, who wrestled as JC Mateo, revealed that he simply did not want to wrestle at that point.
On Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Cobb was recently asked if he knew from the start that he would return to NJPW after leaving WWE. He said he did in a way, but he didn’t like wrestling anymore.
“A part of me, yes, but then a part of me was kind of like, I don’t really like wrestling anymore,” Cobb said. “So May was rough. I didn’t work out. I didn’t do anything. I was just like, I didn’t like wrestling. The first time I have ever been like that, where I was like, man, what the hell?”
Cobb emphasized that he does not blame WWE for the situation. He opened up about questioning his decision to leave NJPW for WWE in 2025 and credited his friends for helping him get through that rough time.
“And so like, I was, I was like, man, did I, did I, did I make a mistake going?” he said. “Just a lot of second guessing myself.”
When Van Vliet asked him directly if he had thought about leaving the ring, Cobb confirmed that he had.
“Yeah, I was like, man, was that it?” Cobb said. “But then at the same time, I was like, I don’t want to really end on that note. So, I kicked out.”
Cobb said it was NJPW that changed his mind. He started to get excited about wrestling again while watching NJPW shows and videos on the history of the G1 Climax. He felt he wasn’t done in Japan yet.
“Just watching, honestly, it was like watching some New Japan stuff, like kind of got me, I was like, oh, this is good, this is good,” Cobb said. “And I was like, oh man, maybe I have some unfinished business here. So I just started thinking about it more and more.”
But Cobb insisted he has no regrets about his decision to sign with WWE.
“Not at all, not at all,” he said.
On August 16, Cobb returned to NJPW at the G1 Climax 36 finals as a new member of Unbound Co. He will team with current IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji in the World Tag League. The tournament begins on November 23 and runs through December 13. The winners will get an IWGP Tag Team Championship shot at Wrestle Kingdom 21 on January 4, 2027, at the Tokyo Dome.