Jeff Cobb Asked To Do More Wrestling In WWE Before Release
Jeff Cobb asked to do more in WWE before getting released this year.
After the initial round of post-WrestleMania WWE releases on April 24, JC Mateo unfortunately joined the list of WWE departures on May 2. Being released less than a year after his WWE debut, which came at Backlash on May 10th, 2025, fans were frustrated the former NJPW World Television Champion wasn’t given more of a chance to impress in the ring, with the star only having four televised singles matches in the company. Now, he’s discussed asking WWE to wrestle more.
During an interview with Denise Salcedo, the former JC Mateo noted that as the run went on, he asked for more wrestling, even if it was dark matches:
“I don’t want to sound like just a bitter ex-employee or whatever. Could I have done more? Yes. Could they have given me more stuff to do? Yes, but at the same time, like somebody said, maximize your minutes. And I tried to do that. The first couple of months, I was more kind of one of those, ‘Yes, whatever you want from me.’ The last couple of months I was like, ‘Hey, man. Can I do more? Can I talk more on-screen? Because if I don’t show my personality, then I’m just the bodyguard #2.’ I wanted to do more, wrestle more because that’s what you signed me for, based off my wrestling. New Japan, we don’t do too much character stuff or vignettes or anything like that. So I was like, ‘Well, you hired me for wrestling so let me wrestle.’ I asked them, ‘You know what? Put me on Main Event. Put me on dark matches.’ They were like, ‘Well, we can’t really. Eh, we’ll see.’”
-Jeff Cobb
This trend has been noticed by many wrestling fans lately, as many wrestlers who have had “big debuts” or are meant to be “key players” have had surprisingly little time in the ring. An easy example was Royce Keys, formerly Powerhouse Hobbs. He debuted at the Royal Rumble and then wasn’t seen on TV for a long time.
Plus, Liv Morgan, who has been Women’s World Champion since WrestleMania, hasn’t defended the belt in over 100 days. Another example would be the main roster career of Blake Monroe, who was moved to SmackDown in April but didn’t appear until June and is yet to feature in a match.
Many speculate that this is because WWE and its parent company, TKO, are less focused on the in-ring aspect of their shows in favour of branding and partnerships. However, this approach has somewhat backfired on the company in the eyes of fans and critics, as noted by the recent controversy over the recent concert Joe Hendry and Danhausen on RAW. You can read more about that here.
As for Jeff Cobb, the 44-year-old is currently serving his 90-day non-compete clause, but should be a true free agent within the next week.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Jeff Cobb’s time in WWE as soon as we hear more.
If you use the quote above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to WrestlePurists.com for the transcription.
