WWE Offered Jeff Cobb Bronson Reed's NJPW Name

In his WWE run, wrestling fans knew Jeff Cobb as JC Mateo. As Cobb revealed on "Insight With Chris Van Vliet," however, he could have adopted a different name, one previously belonging to a colleague of his.

The day of his WWE debut, the same as Backlash 2025, Cobb recalled WWE officials laying out a list of potential new ring names for him, one of which was "Jafar Smash." Another was used by Bronson Reed in New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

"The first page, I'll say it was maybe 60 names on there. I was like okay, this is pretty cool, pretty cool," Cobb said. "They're trying to go into my background with Guam, my background in Hawaii. I was like, okay. Second page, I don't know what happened. It just started doing random names. I was like, 'How are they choosing this?' One that stuck out made me giggle because it was all caps, JONAH. [That had been used] by Bronson Reed. The guy that's in your company. I was like, 'Wait a minute, are you guys even trying now?'"

In his early days on the independent wrestling scene, Reed performed as Jonah Rock. Following his release from WWE in August 2021, he then transformed into JONAH, competing for promotions like NJPW, TNA, and PROGRESS.

The former NXT North American Champion later returned to WWE in December 2022, once again wrestling under the Bronson Reed name. Had Cobb agreed to take on the "JONAH" name in WWE, it's unknown if he or the sports entertainment juggernaut would have faced any legal issues.

Cobb has since departed from WWE after being let go in May 2026. He currently performs for NJPW, a place he originally called home from 2017 until 2025.