Jeff Cobb is a free agent now that his WWE run has ended, and the early signs suggest he is may be leaning back toward NJPW rather than a clean break from his pre-WWE career.
Dave Meltzer reported in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Cobb was backstage at NJPW Wrestling Dontaku at the start of May, and that he is believed to still have a place in Japan.
“Jeff Cobb was backstage at Dontaku. I believe he still has a place in Japan. Unless WWE gives his special dispensation, he would not be able to return in time for G-1 if he does end up here, as the non-compete ends on 7/24. We don’t know if that is what he’ll do. New Japan has its own financial issues. It wouldn’t surprise me if AEW picked up Cobb, but the reality is his chances of going to AEW as a star were much higher one year ago. WWE often enhances someone’s value, but Cobb would not be one of those people.”
The G1 Climax 35 tournament is scheduled to begin in mid-July and run through mid-August, which would conflict directly with Cobb’s WWE 90-day non-compete clause expiring on July 24. Cobb would need either special permission from WWE to participate, or NJPW would need to keep him off the tournament until late in the run. AEW interest is the other option.
Cobb was released by WWE in the company’s post-WrestleMania 42 roster cuts wave. He had debuted for WWE in May 2025 under the JC Mateo name as one of Solo Sikoa’s MFTs in the ongoing Bloodline story. The character work was widely considered to be underwhelming and never approached the level of his New Japan tenure as Jeff Cobb.
In NJPW, Cobb established himself as one of the company’s top foreign wrestlers across multiple years on the roster. He held the NEVER Openweight Championship, the IWGP Tag Team Championships, and the NJPW World Television Championship across his pre-WWE NJPW run.
The G1 Climax 35 dates and full participant lineup have not been formally announced by NJPW. The 90-day non-compete window from Cobb’s release makes him available to wrestle for any non-WWE promotion as of July 24.
