Jeff Cobb was recently a guest on X-Pac’s 12360 Podcast. It’s been an eventful year for the former Guam Olympian who revealed he’s about to hit the free agent market.
Cobb also said he is scheduled for the September 30th show in Long Beach for NJPW. “They haven’t announced me yet but I will be at the Long Beach show on the 30th,” Cobb said. “I’m not at liberty to say what else I’m doing with them the rest of the year but I will be hopefully more on New Japan World and all that fun stuff.”
Cobb, who wrestles as Matanza Cueto for Lucha Underground, said his contract with the promotion is up following this season.
“When the season is done, yes (finished with LU),” Cobb said. “I hope they don’t try to mess with me in the end but from what I was told going into season 4 is that I was good to go. I think if they try to get somebody else (to play Matanza Cueto), it wouldn’t be as good as the original.”
Would Jeff Cobb Go To WWE?
Cobb revealed he met with William Regal this weekend at PWG’s BOLA tournament. The annual 3-night tournament concluded on Sunday and will be available on DVD next month.
“So (Regal) watched my match with Darby Allin and I definitely picked his brain after. So there’s two guys backstage who I will pick their brains after my match, and it was William Regal and the other was Brian Kendrick.”
In terms of going to WWE, however, Cobb said he’d go if the offer was right but he’s happy with his current situation.
“If WWE came calling and all the stars aligned I’d definitely go,” Cobb said. “But right now I’m having a blast. I’m working 3 days a week and making a nice living.”
Cobb has also been seen on Ring of Honor television lately. He’s been disrupting matches in this year’s Top Prospect tournament.
Listen to the full episode of Jeff Cobb on Xpac 1-2-360 here:
Ring of Honor was back on television this week. The promotion’s television episodes air throughout the weekend and then on their Honor Club streaming service on Mondays.
Last night’s show featured a Women of Honor Championship match as well as the Best Friends taking on Silas Young and Bully Ray in the main event.
Women of Honor Championship Sumai Sakai (c) defeated Madison Rayne
Madison Rayne has had an eventful summer. She challenged for the Impact World Championship at Slammiversary, wrestled in the Mae Young Classic, and challenged for the Women of Honor Championship here.
Unfortunately for Rayne, she lost this match via “Smashmouth”, which is a move similar to the Cross Rhodes or Tongan Twist.
Sakai will next defend her title against Tenille Dashwood on September 28th at Death Before Dishonor.
Shane Taylor defeated Josh Woods
Woods has been saying he never felt anything like when he was punched by Shane Taylor in their last match. There was speculation that perhaps Taylor loaded up his MMA-styled fighting glove.
During the match, Woods pulled off Taylor’s glove and discovered some type of foreign object. The ref went to throw the match out but Woods begged him not to. Then just as the ref agreed to keep the match going, Taylor hit “Greetings from the 216” for the win.
Heading into this match the two were tied 2-2 in their all-time series. Taylor picked up the win here to pull ahead by 3 wins to 2, however.
Jeff Cobb Broke Up A Future Of Honor Match
A Future of Honor tournament match was thrown out after interference from Jeff Cobb. On commentary, they referred to Cobb as the top free agent in wrestling today. He took out both prospects as well as another Future of Honor prospect who came out from the back.
The crowd popped huge for Cobb.
Main Event The Best Friends defeated Bully Ray & Silas Young
What looked to be the beginning of a tag-team has already turned into a rivalry. Young and Bully Ray lost this match after Bully refused to tag in Silas and let him take the Dudebuster from the Best Friends for the finish.
Bully Ray told Silas he had to learn a lesson although it is not altogether clear what he meant.
Next Week’s Episode:
On next week’s episode of Ring of Honor, Jay Lethal will defend his ROH World Championship. Jonathan Gresham will challenge Lethal in a 30-minute Iron Man match.
Former Olympian Jeff Cobb will debut this weekend for Ring of Honor at the Saturday Night at Center Stage TV tapings from Atlanta, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. Cobb noted on Twitter that he has not signed an exclusive deal with ROH.
After representing Guam at the 2004 Olympic games in men’s freestyle wrestling, Cobb went pro in 2009 and has been making a name for himself in various promotions across the world.
Known for his amateur credentials, power move-set and agility, Jeff Cobb has long been one of the top free agent prospects in the industry. He’s competed for New Japan Pro Wrestling, Lucha Underground, PWG, Progress, MLW and more.
Several months ago, it was reported that Impact Wrestling offered him a 2-year deal. He has independent bookings scheduled through the end of August, including an appearance for ICW on July 29th and a match against Brian Cage on August 19th for California Vagabond Wrestling.
With WWE continuously signing top independent talent and Ring of Honor looking to hold its ground and build momentum, this is a very strong acquisition for ROH.
Hirooki Goto defeated Michael Elgin for the NEVER Openweight Championship today from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Shortly after doing so, however, he was challenged to a future match by Jeff Cobb. Elgin and Cobb were teammates in the World Tag League last year.
The likely time and date for Cobb vs Goto for the NEVER Openweight Championship is July 7th at NJPW’s G1 Special in San Fransisco.
Elgin’s run with the belt was the shortest in history. It lasted only 8 days and did not include a single successful title defense. Goto is now a 3x champion and has defended the title 6x in total.
Jeff Cobb, KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi, Toa Henare & Togi Makabe defeated Rocky Romero, SHO, Toru Yano, YOH & YOSHI-HASHI
BUSHI, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito defeated El Desperado, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku, Takashi Iizuka & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Jay White, Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii defeated David Finlay, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson
NEVER Openweight Title Hirooki Goto defeated Michael Elgin (c)
Kizuna Road Developments
Jay White and Juice Robinson built up their upcoming title match on today’s show. White attacked Juice after their tag match and attempted to injure his rival’s arm with a chair. Juice fought back and punched the chair into White’s face to end the melee, however.
White also chose to enter the ring separately from his fellow CHAOS stablemates again.
Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi had a weird exchange after their match. Takahashi set the Best of the Super Juniors trophy on the mat in front of Naito. Although Naito initially looked like he was going to bow to the trophy, he instead kicked it and broke off a piece. Takahashi was upset by this. He picked up the trophy and walked away from an apologetic Naito. Whenever he is around a title belt or trophy, Naito can’t help but want to destroy it it seems.
Updated G1 Special In San Francisco Card
IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Kenny Omega (c) vs Cody
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships
the Young Bucks (c) vs Evil and Sanada
IWGP United States Championship
Jay White (c) vs Juice Robinson
Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay vs Tetsuya Naito and Bushi
Likely to be announced soon:
NEVER Openweight Championship
Hirooki Goto (c) vs Jeff Cobb
Jeff Cobb has reportedly been offered a contract by Impact Wrestling. A recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is stating Cobb was offered a 2-year deal but has yet to sign.
Cobb most recently spurred some rumors he might be joining NJPW on a more regular basis. He Tweeted out a photo of himself at the New Japan dojo in Los Angeles recently.
Let the rumors begin 🤔😜🤔😜🤔😜
This is where people need to be, scratching, clawing, and trying to get into to learn and get better in our profession. 2 great trainers teaching in Shibata and Scorpio Sky. Boys and girls, it’s in our backyard! pic.twitter.com/Ym0lQLaZjw
Rev Pro has announced an incredible battle for their upcoming WrestleMania weekend show as part of Wrestlecon in New Orleans on Friday April 6th.
IWGP Intercontinental Champion Minoru Suzuki will be going up against Lucha Underground star Jeff Cobb in what is likely to be one of the matches of the weekend. Rev Pro has also announced that the following stars will be hand for the Supershow this April:
Kota Ibushi
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Juice Robinson
Zack Sabre Jr
Will Ospreay
Aussie Open
More names are expected to be announced closer to the event.
Irish promotion Over The Top Wrestling (OTT) has announced the first two matches for their upcoming Scrappermania IV show. Scrappermania is OTT’s Wrestlemania, it is the biggest wrestling show in Ireland and will again be held in Dublin’s National Stadium. These two matches are more than worth of the honor, as Keith Lee will be taking on Minoru Suzuki and Jeff Cobb will be facing Tomohiro Ishii.
The speculation following these two match announcements is that both Keith Lee and Jeff Cobb are being looked at as possible entrants in this year’s G1 Climax tournament. Jeff Cobb has already made his debut for New Japan as part of 2017’s World Tag League tournament where he teamed with Michael Elgin (he was originally scheduled to team with Matt Riddle). Keith Lee has yet to make his way over to NJPW but he does have the pedigree for a run over in Japan, having faced Tomohiro Ishii in an absolute barnburner back at Rev Pro’s Global Wars 2017 as well as his incredible runs in PROGRESS, EVOLVE and PWG.
Tickets for OTT’s Scrappermania will be available to purchase as of March 2nd.
The ‘Chosen Bros’ tag team of Lucha Underground’s Jeff Cobb and EVOLVE/PROGRESS’ Matt Riddle will be making their way to Rev Pro’s ‘Epic Encounter’ event on May 11th from the world famous York Hall in Bethnal Green, London. The team were expected to be part of New Japan’s World Tag League event last year but plans were allegedly nixed once NJPW officials became aware of Riddle’s previous drug history. Jeff Cobb still made an appearance in the tournament alongside Michael Elgin.
With Rev Pro’s strong working relationship alongside New Japan there is always the chance that Riddle could be brought into the fold, he is regarded as one of the top independent stars on the planet and could be a huge asset to New Japan, especially considering their US expansion plans.
Riddle and Cobb will be taking on one of the best up and coming teams on the UK circuit right now, Aussie Open. Comprised of Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis, Aussie Open have been tearing through the United Kingdom’s tag ranks ever since they joined forces in 2017. Incredible bouts through PROGRESS against the likes of Mark Haskins & Jimmy Havoc, CCK and Moustache Mountain/British Strong Style have garnered the Australian stars a huge following on UK shores. This bout will surely be Aussie Open’s biggest test yet and a massive opportunity to test themselves against two of the world’s best.
The two main event bouts for the card have also been announced and they are as follows:
Revolution Pro British Tag Team Championship Match – Suzuki-gun (RPW British Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr & IWGP Intercontinental Champion, Minoru Suzuki) vs CCK (Chris Brookes & Travis Banks)
Lucha Underground star Jeff Cobb has been pulled from wXw’s upcoming 16 Carat Gold tournament in Oberhausen, Germany. The event takes place on March 9th-11th and this will clash with Lucha Underground’s television tapings, where of course Cobb will reprising his role as Matanza Cueto.
Replacing Cobb will be EVOLVE and PROGRESS star Keith Lee. The man that asks you to “Bask In His Glory” blazed through the independent scene last year and now he is part of arguably the biggest tournament in Europe outside of PROGRESS’ Super Strong Style 16.
The ‘Chosen Bros’ have been announced for their tag team debut in the United Kingdom. The enigmatic duo are the first team announced for Fight Club: Pro’s ‘Dream Tag Team Invitational’ that takes place March 30th – April 1st from Wolverhampton, Manchester and a yet to be named location for Night Three.
New Japan are currently hosting their final tour before the big January 4th spectacular from the Tokyo Dome. The ‘World Tag League’ sees performers from across the globe join forces to go for the coveted prize; a shot at the IWGP Tag Team Titles.
Jeff Cobb and Michael Elgin are one of the teams on the tour, Matt Riddle had previously been scheduled to join Cobb however New Japan officials reportedly nixed this plan due to Riddle’s past drug use.
It has now come to light that Elgin is not exactly a huge fan of his WTL partner, the tweet below from Twitter user MOses Malone shows private conversations between herself and Elgin exposing the bad blood and as you can see Cobb has replied…we’ll keep you updated as this situation develops.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has been making some big moves recently, most notably with the signing of Chris Jericho vs Kenny Omega for January 4th’s Tokyo Dome show.
NJPW has now also announced some of the teams heading into their upcoming World Tag League event starting on November 18th, the event will be shown live and for FREE on Njpwworld.com.
Former NXT star Sami Callihan will be making his NJPW debut when he joins forces with Juice Robinson. Callihan had previously been rumored to debut as part of the ‘Switchblade’ promo packages leading up to the Power Struggle event this past Sunday. Jay White was eventually revealed as ‘Switchblade’ after much speculation.
Lucha Underground star Jeff Cobb will also be making his way to New Japan for the World Tag League. Cobb had previously been slated to join forces with Matt Riddle, however his confirmed partner for the tournament has been unveiled as NJPW standout Michael Elgin.
Former UFC star Matt Riddle had been rumored for a potential debut in New Japan’s annual World Tag League event later this year. The company had planned on unveiling both Riddle and EVOLVE/Lucha Underground star Jeff Cobb as a way of pushing the often under hyped series.
The deal confirming Riddle’s part on the tour was all but sealed according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, however it is believed that NJPW’s parent company Bushiroad had discovered Riddle’s UFC test failures for marijuana.
Japanese culture takes a strong stance against marijuana, a case in point being Matt Sydal’s expulsion from New Japan following his arrest by Japanese officials back in 2016. It is not clear at this time if Riddle and New Japan are still in talks or if this deal is indeed completely off the table, Cobb is still slated to debut as part of the World Tag League tour.
MLW has been teasing another notable competitor for the upcoming MLW: One-Shot live event and once again, they delivered in a big way.
MLW announced this week that UFC veteran turned pro wrestler “Filthy” Tom Lawlor has signed on to face Olympic wrestler Jeff Cobb at One-Shot, which takes place on Thursday, October 5th from Gilt Nightclub in Orlando, FL.
Upon hearing the news, Jeff Cobb gave his thoughts on the upcoming match. “I’ve seen Lawlor in the Octagon and respect what he’s done in the UFC but sometimes he gets a little carried away having fun. If he tries to clown around with me, I’ll drop him on his head. I take this sport very seriously.”
Lawlor, a prolific finisher inside the Octagon, said, “I’m gonna chew him up like corn on the cob.”
The following matches are now confirmed for MLW: One-Shot:
Ricochet vs. Shane “Swerve” Strickland
MVP vs. Sami Callihan
Jeff Cobb vs. “Filthy” Tom Lawlor
Former WCW lead announcer Tony Schiavone and the former “Voice of NXT” Rich Bocchini will call the action on October 5th, with MLW One-Shot streaming on-demand in the following days on the new MLW.TV over-the-top streaming service.
Tickets are selling fast but are still available at Eventbrite.com.
Lucha Underground star “Mr. Athletic” Jeff Cobb (a.k.a. Matanza Cueto) recently joined The Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling podcast to talk about a variety of professional wrestling topics. Cobb revealed if he is looking to sign with WWE, how much of a perfect fit he’d be for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), his current status with Lucha Underground, and how he became Matanza Cueto. The highlights can be found here below:
If he is looking to sign with WWE:
“I don’t know right now and just for the fact to say that I don’t want to work for the WWE would be a bold face lie. I’m never going to say I don’t want to go there, I would love to make a really good living and wrestle and to train at the performance center and GOOD LORD if I had access to that Performance Center it would be amazing. But as of right now where I am at, I am just enjoying this time on “Independents” touring the world. With WWE you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to say I am going to take a booking in Ireland because you have to be at the Performance Center or when you have shows in Tampa.
“It is that give and take relationship of you are going to get great exposure and a good living but you have to be with them all the time and at this point there are a couple of things I want to do before I even go that route. I’d like to throw my hand in New Japan and see how I do there. Like people say, you never say never in wrestling and if it came up I would definitely have to sit down and take a big long and hard look at it and see what is best for me and my family.”
How much of a perfect fit he’d be for NJPW:
“I’d definitely love to go there. I don’t have the height of some of their big bruiser guys like Dr. Death or Gary Albright but I definitely have that background so I’d love to try it out there and see what happens. It is a good goal to set.”
His current status with Lucha Underground:
“I am still under contract with them and hopefully we will be filming season four sometime soon. They haven’t given us the date yet so hopefully we will be filming soon because the fans want it, the people want it, the “internet wrestling community” wants it and I feel that we should definitely be giving it to them.I signed for the longterm seasons so hopefully you will be seeing a lot of me and my character around kicking butts and taking names.”
How he became Matanza Cueto:
“Originally I was supposed to do a different character type or a shooter type of gimmick. I wasn’t really fully grasped when they approached me with this character and I thought, oh man I’ve got to be under a mask but I figured I could show my range and do it and see what happens and I couldn’t grasp or comprehend what my character would be or what he meant to the Lucha Underground universe and the storyline aspect of it but I am very happy that I was given the opportunity to play this character and very very happy with what the character has become.”
Here are the results from PWG’s latest event Nice Boys (Don’t Play Rock N’ Roll) from the world famous American Legion Post 335 in Reseda, California:
Brian Cage b. Keith Lee & Sami Callihan – Cage won the bout after hitting a Falcon Arrow on Keith Lee
Chosen Bros (Jeff Cobb and Matt Riddle) b. Jake and Dave Crist – Riddle took the win for his team after making Crist tap out to the Bromission
Lio Rush b. Trevor Lee – Rush won the match with a small package counter
Shane Strickland b. Dezmond Xavier – Strickland won the match after hitting a Cuerno Killer
Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent?) b. PWG World Champion Zack Sabre Jr. and Marty Scurll – Trent? Won the match for his team after hitting Sabre Jr with a Cradle Piledriver. After the match Sabre and Scurll powerbombed Chuck into chairs
PWG Tag Team Title Match – Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero M b. The Young Bucks and Ricochet & Matt Sydal – Fenix and Penta are the new PWG Tag Team Champions after hitting a Cradle Piledriver in to a Destroyer on Ricochet.
The 16 Carat Gold weekender is arguably one of the biggest in Independent wrestling and this year’s iteration certainly delivered on the lofty expectations of the wXw fans.
The three day event featured some of the best that the European, US and Japan scenes have to offer and here are the results over the three days:
Here are the results from this past weekend’s EVOLVE 75 event:
Jeff Cobb b. Fred Yehi – Cobb took the pinfall win after hitting the Tour of the Islands
Jaka & Chris Dickinson b. Darby Allin & Peter Kaasa – Jaka and Dickinson took the win via pinfall
Ethan Page b. Dick Togo – Page took the pinfall win in a hard hitting bout with the legend Togo
Chris Hero b. DUSTIN – Hero gained the pinfall victory after hitting a Gotch Piledriver
Matt Riddle b. Ricochet – Riddle locked in the Bro Mission to make Ricochet tap and secure the victory
Tracy Williams b. Drew Gulak – Williams took the submission win with a Crossface, after the bout Gulak officially declared that he will be leaving the company
Here are the results from EVOLVE 74, the show took place in New York City’s La Boom venue:
Drew Gulak defeated Jaka via the submission (Dragon Sleeper).
DUSTIN b. Chris Dickinson via pinfall.
Brian Cage defeated Darby Allen via countout when Cage threw Allen out into the crowd.
Cody Rhodes beat Ethan via pitfall after hitting his Crossrhodes finisher.
Jeff Cobb defeated Matt Riddle. After the match, Stokely Hathaway invited Cobb to be a part of the Dream Team but Cobb refused, rather opting for a shot at the Evolve Championship instead which is held by Timothy Thatcher.
EVOLVE Tag Team Champions Catch Point (Fred Yehi & Tracy Williams) defeated Peter Kaasa & Ricochet via crossface submission.
Dick Togo def. Chris Hero by pinfall with the diving senton.
The final two EVOLVE shows of 2016 will taking place this weekend. Both shows will be available to watch on the FloSlam.tv network and the cards are as follows:
EVOLVE 74
EVOLVE Tag Team Championship Match
Catch Point of Tracy Williams & Fred Yehi (c) vs. Ricochet & Peter Kaasa
Special Challenge Match
Cody vs. Ethan Page w/ The Gatekeepers
Special Attraction Match
Chris Hero vs. Dick Togo
Matt Riddle vs. Jeff Cobb
Drew Gulak vs. Jaka
Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage
DUSTIN vs. Chris Dickinson
Here are the results from the third and final night of PWG’s annual BOLA Tournament:
BOLA Tournament Quarter Final Matches
Trevor Lee b. Dalton Castle – Trevor Lee took the win via pinfall after hitting a Canadian Destroyer
Ricochet b. John Bennigan – Ricochet hit the 630 splash to advance in the tournament
Marty Scurll b. Cody Rhodes – Scurll hit a low blow and followed with a quick roll up to secure the pinfall victory
Mark Andrews b. Chris Hero – Andrews reversed a cradle attempt to take the victory in a rematch from PROGRESS’ Super Strong Style 16 tournament
Mark Haskins b. Kyle O’Reilly – Haskins took the win via submission
Will Ospreay b. Zack Sabre Jr – Ospreay took the win after reversing a European Clutch into a pinfall
PWG Tag Team Title Match:The Young Bucks (c) b. Pentagon Jr & Fenix
BOLA Tournament Semi-Final Matches
Trevor Lee b. Mark Andrews – Lee took the win after hitting a small package driver
Marty Scurll b. Mark Haskins – Scurll took the submission win after applying the Crossface Chickenwing
Will Ospreay b. Ricochet – Ospreay hit the OsCutter to win via pinfall in this Best of the Super Juniors rematch
10 Man Tag:Jushin Thunder Liger, Chuck Taylor, Jeff Cobb, Tommy End & Cedric Alexander b. Tommaso Ciampa, Sami Callihan, Matt Riddle, Pete Dunne & Brian Kendrick – Liger hit the Brainbuster on Pete Dunne to secure the pinfall win for his team
Marty Scurll b. Will Ospreay & Trevor Lee – Ospreay is the first to be eliminated after a Chickenwing/Stomp combination from both Scurll and Lee. Scurll wins the tournament by making Lee tap to the Chickenwing.
Rob Lias b. Josh Wall – Lias took the win via submission
Jake McCluskey & Kieran Bruce b. Dan McGee & Kurtis Chapman – McCluskey and Bruce took the win via pinfall
Jinny b. Xia Brookside – Jinny took the win via pinfall, Lucas delivered a Dragon Suplex to Jinny after the match
Jeff Cobb (Matanza Cueto) b. Big Damo – Cobb took the win via pinfall, after the match Damo challenged Zack Sabre Jr to put his title on the line against Cobb at Uprising on August 12th if he defeated Trent Seven in the main event
Josh Bodom b. Ryan Smile – Bodom took the win via pinfall
Marty Scurll B. Jay White – Scurll took the win via submission
Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship Match: Zack Sabre Jr b. Trent Seven – ZSJ took the win via submission to retain his championship, he then agreed to defend his title against Cobb at Uprising this Friday