Top NJPW Star "Down" For WWE Royal Rumble Appearance
WWE is days away from getting on the road to WWE WrestleMania 39. The showcase of immortals season kicks off with WWE Royal Rumble, the company's first premium live event of the calendar year. This year's WWE Royal Rumble has been flooded with theories, as everyone from The Rock to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin has been rumored to be participating in the multi-man battle royal to set up potential WrestleMania programs. While most Royal Rumble surprises are contained to the WWE family, the company has cracked open the forbidden door for the match as recently as last year, with Impact Knockouts Champion Mickie James participating in the women's battle royal.
James's entry last year, combined with Paul "Triple H" Levesque's takeover of main roster creative, has led to speculation on more possible "forbidden door" entrants in future Royal Rumbles. As evident by Karl Anderson and Shinsuke Nakamura's recent appearances for NJPW and Pro Wrestling NOAH, respectively, WWE has become more willing to collaborate with other wrestling promotions.
Speaking to Steve Fall on Ten Count, NJPW wrestler Jeff Cobb addressed the possibility of showing up in Saturday's men's Royal Rumble match.
"You never say never, but it all depends if the stars line up and all that stuff," Cobb said. "If they wanted me for some odd reason, then they would have to go through the right avenues. I don't think they could contact me directly because I don't think that's legal. I'm not sure how those things work, but I mean if they for some odd reason were like, 'We want to put Jeff in the Royal Rumble,' if the stars align, I would be down for that."
Cobb is a member of NJPW's United Empire, a decorated faction headed up by Will Ospreay. Alongside stablemate Great-O-Khan, Cobb is a two-time IWGP Tag Team Champion. Outside of the far east, Cobb has won titles in Ring of Honor, Lucha Underground, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. He has ranked as high at No. 23 on the PWI 500.
The Hawaii native will be familiar to western audiences thanks to his appearances for AEW. He wrestled Jon Moxley on an episode of AEW Dynamite in February 2020 and was part of the United Empire's attacks on AEW talent during the build up to AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door.
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