Jeff Cobb says he heard he might be paired with Bronson Reed before WWE put him with the MFTs.
Cobb, who worked as JC Mateo alongside Solo Sikoa’s group, told Chris Van Vliet on Insight that he did not know joining the group was the plan.
“I didn’t even know that was a pitch to begin with ’cause I heard a couple other rumors out there as well,” Cobb said. “Like, I mean, just rumors and from, like, I guess fans fantasy booking that I was like, ‘Oh, they’re going to put you with the Bronson Reed and be like the new Natural Disasters.’ I was like, ‘Oh man.'”
“He’s not even part of the family tree”
Cobb said the group’s name was explained to him backstage as My Family Tree, and he expected fans to point out that he was not related to the others.
“I was like, dude, you know what? The internet fans are very, very meticulous. They were like, ‘He’s not even part of the family tree,'” Cobb said. “I was like, well, you know, the roots can go super far away to, like, Micronesia, Polynesia.”
He said he once asked Jacob Fatu to walk him through his family.
“I sat down one time with Jacob. ‘Hey man, explain this. Like, can you help me with your family?'” Cobb said. “And he had a hard time, and this was pretty funny.”
Working with Solo Sikoa
Cobb said he already knew Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa and Hikuleo, now Talla Tonga, from his NJPW days, and knew Sikoa’s father, Rikishi, from working for him at KnokX Pro. Cobb said Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa were hurt and Hikuleo was in NXT when he arrived, so it was just him, Fatu and Sikoa.
“Solo was so cool, man. He was very open,” Cobb said. “It was just me, Jacob and Solo. … I got to know him. He’s super cool.”
Cobb debuted without face paint and said he was confused when WWE told the group it would wear face paint “like you guys had in New Japan.”
“I remember sitting there like, that wasn’t me. I didn’t have face paint in Japan,” Cobb said. “I was like, ‘That was those guys over there.'”
Cobb debuted at Backlash on May 10, 2025, and held the WWE Tag Team Championship during his run. WWE released him on May 2, 2026, and he returned to NJPW at the G1 Climax 36 final in August, where he joined Unbound Co.
