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New Japan Pro-Wrestling has made a major announcement regarding Jeff Cobb, who could be on his way to WWE. The 42-year-old star recently vacated the IWGP Tag Team Championship.
Cobb and Callum Newman defeated Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship. The win marked Cobb's third reign as the IWGP Tag Team Champion. He previously held the gold with Great-O-Khan.
NJPW announced on social media and on its official website that Cobb's final match for the promotion will take place at Korakuen Hall on April 19 against Hiroshi Tanahashi.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling has come to terms with the departure of Jeff Cobb at his request.
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"With Cobb one-half of the IWGP Tag team Champions, those titles have now been vacated. Cobb's final match in NJPW will take place in Korakuen Hall on April 19 against Hiroshi Tanahashi. New Japan Pro-Wrestling profoundly apologizes for the sudden nature of this news and joins fans in wishing Cobb the best in all his future endeavors," NJPW's announcement read.
Going by his sudden exit from the Japanese promotion and a recent report by Fightful, Cobb could eventually ink a deal with WWE. Last month, it was reported that Triple H and Co. had their eyes on the multi-time champion.
Jeff Cobb revealed that he got offers from WWE
Jeff Cobb previously revealed that he got offers from WWE before signing with New Japan Pro-Wrestling. On the All Real Wrestling podcast in 2021, Cobb claimed that money wasn't his main motivation. He said:
"I did get contract offers from other places. But at the end of the day, it was—you know like—I mean WWE offered me a contract," Cobb said. "Great money but, at the end of the day, you know, it’s—money is gonna make a lot of your problems go away but at the end of the day, money won’t make you happy so I wanted to work somewhere where I felt like I fit in more (...) You know, if I went to WWE, I wouldn’t be able to do a random indie booking if I wanted to (...) New Japan, I love Japan. The culture is amazing out there and the style of wrestling."
It remains to be seen where Cobb will end up after leaving NJPW. While there are chances of him signing with the Stamford-based company, nothing has been officially announced as of this writing.
