JC Mateo (formerly Jeff Cobb) comments on the process of signing with WWE

JC Mateo (formerly Jeff Cobb), who debuted for WWE at the 2025 Backlash PLE, did an interview with KUAM News and discussed his transition from NJPW to WWE..

“I still stayed with them for two more months after. Not under contract, but just as a — like a handshake agreement kind of thing, while my WWE contract was being finalized, and then it went into effect April 21st. My last New Japan Pro-Wrestling match was April 19th and as you can see from a lot of the internet things, May 10th was my official debut with WWE.”

“Like the majority of the professional wrestlers, their goal was WWE or WWF or whichever one you remember it as and so for me, I originally had a tryout in 2014. They said no at the time. So I just ventured off into other things, like independent wrestling and a couple of other companies that I signed with over time.”

Mateo said the following about his WWE debut…

“I wanted everything to be right with what I wanted, for a contract (he said about the offer from WWE in 2020)… So I waited and then we started talking again back in November of 2024, had a couple Zoom meetings and there were things that — concerns that I had and whatnot and they pretty much just said, ‘Okay. Whatever you want, let’s do it…’ and lo and behold, here I am a few months later.”

“It’s pretty cool to hear a live reaction. Especially for somebody who that — for my case, I didn’t come up through the WWE system. I made a name for myself outside of WWE. So, it’s always scary when you’re gonna debut on WWE and you’re kind of like, ‘Oh man, I hope the people know who I am.’ Hearing that reaction firsthand was like, very — thank goodness their camera didn’t zoom in on my arms but the goosebumps, it was there for sure.” (quotes courtesy of Andrew Thompson)