Jeff Cobb Says He Thought About Retiring After WWE Release
Summary: Jeff Cobb told Chris Van Vliet on Insight, in an interview posted Nov. 10, that he thought about retiring after WWE released him in May. He said he does not blame WWE. He returned to NJPW in August and is with Unbound Co.
The quick version
- Jeff Cobb said on Chris Van Vliet's Insight that he thought about retiring after WWE released him in May 2026. He said he decided he did not want to end on that note.
- He said he is not blaming WWE and has no regrets about signing there.
- Cobb returned to NJPW in August and is part of Unbound Co. He is set to team with Chihiro Hashimoto at Bound for Unbound on Nov. 20.
Jeff Cobb, who wrestled in WWE as JC Mateo, said he thought about retiring after WWE released him in May. He made the comments to Chris Van Vliet on the Insight podcast, in an interview posted on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. Cobb is back in NJPW and is a member of Unbound Co.
What Cobb said
Van Vliet asked if Cobb knew right away he would return to Japan. Cobb said: "A part of me, yes, but then a part of me was kind of like, I don't really like wrestling anymore." He said May was a hard month, that he did not work out, and that it was the first time he had felt that way. "I'm not blaming WWE," he said.
Asked if he thought about retiring, Cobb said: "Yeah, I was like, man, was that it? But then at the same time, I was like, I don't want to really end on that note. So, I kicked out."
He said friends helped, but he did not describe it as a crisis. In his words, it "wasn't like talking me off a ledge." He said he second-guessed himself and wondered if he had made the right choices.
Why he went back to NJPW
Cobb said watching NJPW's output pulled him back. "Maybe I have some unfinished business here," he said. He pointed to NJPW's G1 Climax video packages and said he wanted to be "on the G1 package" one day, and that the only way to do that was to return.
He also said he does not regret signing with WWE. Asked directly, he said: "Not at all, not at all."
The facts around it
- Cobb joined WWE at Backlash in May 2025 as JC Mateo, aligned with Solo Sikoa's faction, per Ringside News. WWE released him on May 2, 2026, per Ringside News and Sportskeeda.
- Fightful says he had 40 matches in WWE, 19 of them on television.
- Cobb returned to NJPW at the G1 Climax 36 finale on Aug. 16 and joined Unbound Co., per Ringside News and Fightful. Fightful says he is one-third of the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Champions with the Knockout Brothers, OSKAR and Yuto-Ice.
What is next
Cobb and Shingo Takagi beat Jon Moxley and Wheeler Yuta in a tag match at Power Struggle on Nov. 3. See our results. On Friday, Nov. 20, at Korakuen Hall, Cobb and Chihiro Hashimoto face Takagi and Natsupoi at Bound for Unbound. See our card story.
Source: Jeff Cobb's on-the-record comments to Chris Van Vliet, as posted on chrisvanvliet.com and as quoted by Fightful, F4W Online, Ringside News and Sportskeeda. We read the posted transcript in full. We did not hear the audio. We did not contact Cobb, NJPW or WWE. Nothing in this story is a rumor.
Sources
- Chris Van Vliet, "Jeff Cobb (JC Mateo) On WWE Release, MFTs, Face Paint, Return to NJPW, Lucha Underground", Insight, Nov. 10, 2026 (the transcript, all Cobb quotes). https://chrisvanvliet.com/2026/11/10/jeff-cobb-jc-mateo-on-wwe-release-mfts-face-paint-return-to-njpw-lucha-underground/
- Fightful (Jeremy Lambert), "Jeff Cobb Says He Thought About Retiring After WWE Release", Nov. 10, 2026, 8:47 AM (40 matches, 19 on TV, NEVER six-man title). https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/jeff-cobb-says-he-thought-about-retiring-after-wwe-release/
- Ringside News (H Jenkins), "Jeff Cobb Admits He Considered Retirement After WWE Release", Nov. 10, 2026 (Backlash 2025 debut, May 2 release, Aug. 16 return). https://www.ringsidenews.com/jeff-cobb-admits-he-considered-retirement-wwe-release/
- F4W Online, "Former WWE star considered retirement after reaching low point following release", Nov. 10, 2026 (the same remarks; search excerpt only). https://f4wonline.com/news/wwe/former-wwe-star-considered-retirement-after-reaching-low-point-following-release-i-didnt-like-wrestling
- Sportskeeda, "'I don't really like wrestling anymore,' - Star released from WWE, gets brutally honest", Nov. 10, 2026, date as shown by the search excerpt (May 2 release). https://sportskeeda.com/wwe/news-i-really-like-wrestling-anymore-star-released-wwe-gets-brutally-honest
- WrestlingNews.com, "NJPW Power Struggle Results", Nov. 2026. https://wrestlingnews.com/story/njpw-power-struggle-results-nov-3/
- WrestlingNews.com, "NJPW Bound for Unbound: Cobb and Hashimoto vs. Takagi and Natsupoi", Nov. 6, 2026. https://wrestlingnews.com/story/njpw-bound-for-unbound-cobb-hashimoto-takagi-natsupoi-nov-20/
- WrestlingNews.com staff reporting: read the Insight transcript in full and checked the WWE and NJPW dates against Ringside News, Fightful and our own earlier stories.
How we credit sources: Editorial standards.