After the WWE Backlash PLE on Saturday, talk was consumed by the overbooked main event match between Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena and Randy Orton. Cena, just like at WrestleMania 41, cheated again in a festival of ref bumps and run-ins, only to look unsure of himself afterward, then put R-Truth through a table at the post-show press conference. Now that this talk is dying down a bit, we can look at the other controversy of the night, this time surrounding the debut of Jeff Cobb during the Fatal 4-Way United States Championship match.
Toward the end, Solo Sikoa appeared, but he had a new WWE star with him in Jeff Cobb, who made his debut by attacking LA Knight and helping Jacob Fatu retain his title. The crowd popped at seeing him, but WWE gave Jeff Cobb the laziest of debuts. He’s just another guy in Sikoa’s mangled version of the Bloodline despite the fact that he’s not part of the Anoa’i family or even Samoan.
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Jeff Cobb’s WWE Debut Was A Badly Kept Secret
Cobb Tried To Throw Off Fans With Retirement Talk On Social Media
- Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa’s arrival in the Bloodline was reported before it happened.
- Reports said Jeff Cobb had signed with WWE.
- At 42, Cobb still has a few years left in the ring.
In today’s day and age, it’s impossible to keep pretty much any wrestling debut a secret. When Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa joined Solo Sikoa’s new version of the Bloodline, their impending arrivals had already been reported. The same goes with the debut of brothers Penta and Rey Fenix this year on Raw and SmackDown. Fans in the know knew they were going to show up, but that didn’t stop us from cheering loudly when they did.
This year there had been multiple reports that NJPW’s Jeff Cobb had been signed by WWE, with his debut coming imminently. Cobb tried to throw off smart fans by posting on Twitter/X that he was retired, but no one bought it, and we didn’t want to. At 42, Jeff Cobb doesn’t have a lot of years left in the ring, but he’s still wrestling like he’s in his prime, so hanging up his boots shouldn’t have been an option yet.
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Cobb Is Not Samoan Or Part Of The Anoa’i Family
- Jacob Fatu defended his United States Championship at Backlash.
- Jeff Cobb debuted by attacking LA Knight and helping Fatu win.
- Cobb was born in Hawaii but is Filipino and spent years in Guam.
At Backlash, Jacob Fatu defended his US title against LA Knight, Drew McIntyre, and Damian Priest. With the latter two men having gone through a table in the crowd, only Fatu and Knight were left. The challenger set the beat-up champion on the commentary desk, then went to the top rope, ready to drop down on his opponent, only for Solo Sikoa to arrive and pull Fatu off the table. When LA Knight approached Solo, a man shown only from the back attacked Knight from behind the barrier. When the camera found his face, the crowd popped at seeing Jeff Cobb as Michael Cole yelled about him being a hot free agent. It was cool to see Cobb being recognized, but everything else about the moment felt lackluster and pointless.
The storyline is that Fatu didn’t know Sikoa was going to bring out Cobb. It’ll allow Fatu to continue not to trust him, setting up a full-on babyface turn and feud. And what purpose does Jeff Cobb play in all of this? If you’re a casual fan, you might assume he’s another Samoan member of the Anoa’i family. Nope. Not only is Cobb not part of the famed wrestling family, but he’s not Samoan either. He was born in Hawaii, but his roots are Filipino, and he spent many of his formative years in Guam.
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Being Solo Sikoa’s Muscle Will Hurt Cobb
- There was no storyline reason to put Jeff Cobb with Solo Sikoa.
- Cobb will be the background for a feud between Sikoa and Jacob Fatu.
- Jeff Cobb should have debuted as a singles wrestler and not in a faction.
It feels a little gross, as if WWE looked at Jeff Cobb and thought, “Well, he looks Samoan, so put him with the rest of them.” If he was Samoan or an Anoa’i, okay, but since he’s neither, he’s been reduced to being a gimmick, like how every Hispanic wrestler has to be paired with Rey Mysterio at some point. Now, Cobb will be the quiet guy in the background as the muscle in someone else’s story as he’ll surely help Solo Sikoa take out Jacob Fatu when the time comes. It’s a complete waste of talent, especially when Sikoa’s version of the Bloodline is pretty much dead.
Jeff Cobb is the new Jacob Fatu. That can work in the long run if he has the success Fatu is having, but for now it’s the laziest of approaches. Jeff Cobb competed for Guam as an amateur wrestler in the 2004 Olympics. He’s wrestled professionally everywhere, from Lucha Underground, to AEW, and most successfully, in New Japan Pro Wrestling. At 42, he doesn’t have time to stand around and play second fiddle to Solo Sikoa, a wrestler who has underwhelmed of late. He outshines the man he now shadows, like Jacob Fatu does.
Just because Jeff Cobb is from Hawaii doesn’t mean he needs to be put in the business of WWE’s Samoans. They are not his family and that’s not his fight. WWE would have been so much better off by putting him on his own and maximizing his talent immediately. Jeff Cobb is a talented wrestler, not a trope in someone else’s storyline. Let’s hope that WWE realizes this as soon as possible.
