Top NJPW Star Almost Signed With WWE in 2021

Professional wrestling's free agent pool is the busiest it's been in decades. For the first time since the days of ECW and WCW in the late 1990s, the sports-entertainment landscape has multiple global-scale promotions vying for wrestlers' services, leading to top talents' free agency periods being legitimate bidding wars. Stars like Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley both had discussions with WWE about extending their deals before ultimately opting for AEW, while NJPW's Bronson Reed (formerly known as Jonah) and the Good Brothers recently rejoined WWE while wrapping up their commitments in the far east.

In an alternate universe, another top New Japan star could have made a similar jump.

"It just so happened, right before the pandemic in 2020, I started getting phone calls. William Regal would call me. Brian Kendrick would call me," Jeff Cobb told Steve Fall of Ten Count. "I'm always open to talk to people and entertain talks."

Cobb has been a journeyman for the majority of his in-ring career, competing for Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and Lucha Underground before finding a home in NJPW.

"This was around the time New Japan and I were figuring out a contract situation. At the same time, AEW offered me a contract as well," Cobb continued. "This is the first time where I ever felt like, 'Oh my gosh.' I was the new girl in high school and all the guys want to be with me. It was really cool."

While Cobb would ultimately ink with NJPW, he revealed that he was "really close" to joining WWE.

"I got really close, maybe in the summer of 2021, I was FaceTiming [WWE Senior Director of Talent Development] Canyon Ceman a couple of times, maybe June or July, and it got pretty close," Cobb revealed. "I got to hear what they offer and at the end of the day, I chose what I was doing as opposed to going after the money."

Today's WWE imports much more than it exports, but that was the complete opposite just a couple of years ago. Every couple of months, WWE would release dozens of talent at a time, including stars that had just debuted on its main roster.

"Looking back, I think I made a good choice because if I went there, six months later, I could have been released and crawling back to another company for a job," Cobb noted. "New Japan definitely took care of me during the pandemic when they didn't have to. We still got paid. If they're loyal to me, I'm going to be loyal to them."