Jeff Cobb Reveals Talks With WWE Earlier This Year, Why He Hasn't Signed
Jeff Cobb has been a highly sought after pro wrestling free agent for months now. For those not familiar with his work, he is most often compared to Taz for a multitude of reasons.
Cobb recently joined Chris Van Vliet for an interview and went in depth talking about his 2014 tryout with WWE, and why he had previously said they didn't want him. He also discussed if there have been any recent talks with the company.
"I hope that wasn't taken out of context," Cobb said. "That was in 2014 when I did my tryout with them. That's when I said they didn't want me. At the time back then, if you look at their roster, they have one of everything. I'm not sure if they were just trying to collect them or not. Chad Gable was there, so they had the Olympian. Kona Reeves was there, so they already had a Hawaiian guy. Maybe they already filled their quotas for what they needed.
"I get it," Cobb added. "I'm not mad at them and definitely didn't go online to bash them. I just went to do other stuff and hoped maybe they'd come back to me. They asked me if I wanted to do Tough Enough. One came back in 2014 or 2015, but I didn't really want to do a reality TV show; I want to be a wrestler. That's what I am, I'm a professional wrestler.
Cobb went on to reveal that he did have talks with WWE earlier this year but felt that it just wasn't the right time to join them because he had a few things he still wants to accomplish on his own before making that jump.
WWE has recently unveiled a new segment in an effort to shake things up with RAW Underground, which has been met with quite a bit of negative reaction since it's inception.
"I don't know," Cobb said. "It's weird because people were so tired of this and wanted something new, then they give them something new and people aren't satisfied with it. I'm not defending anyone or anything. It's got to be tough to write for 3 hours of live TV, or whatever it is. I get a lot of pressure just trying to make sure I catch my flight to the next show, but these guys are sitting in a room writing, and it gets changed, and all that on the side.
"I'm not a big critic," Cobb continued. "This is a business I love. I can only focus on my stuff and the style of wrestling that I like. That's how I portray it in whatever show or match I'm doing – I just try to focus on what I'm trying to portray."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Mehdy Labrini contributed to this article.