Jeff Cobb is back in New Japan Pro Wrestling after less than year as JC Mateo in WWE, and the Japanese fans are already extremely happy to see the former NEVER Openweight Champion back in between the ropes. Now part of the Unbound Co. stable in NJPW, Cobb has been able to transition back into the Japanese schedule, but he has taken some key lessons from his time in WWE, and during a recent interview with the official NJPW website, Cobb revealed some of the biggest culture shocks he got from his time in WWE after spending so many years in Japan.
“The first time I went to Saudi Arabia was very interesting. being on a chartered jet to go from Miami direct to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, 16, 17 hours on a chartered jet was crazy, the first time I’d been in one. But it was interesting to see how pro-wrestling across the world, and not just WWE, but pro-wrestling affects people all over the world. We did a meet and greet there and people came up to me and said ‘Oh I loved your stuff in New Japan.’ That was a shock, because not to downplay NJPW’s popularity or influence, but to hear people in Saudi Arabia say that they watched me in New Japan Pro-Wrestling was very surreal.”
Cobb admitted that he was very touched by the amount of people who told him how much they enjoyed his work in WWE as it made him realize that, even though he understands that WWE is the biggest wrestling company in the world, NJPW has a huge global outreach as well. Cobb has previously revealed that he would have liked to have done more during his time in WWE, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t enjoy himself while he was in the company.
What Did Jeff Cobb Learn In WWE?
Despite only being in WWE for less than a year, there is so much that one can learn from being part of such a massive company. Jeff Cobb understood that even after being in the wrestling business for many years already, and when he was asked what did he learn in WWE, he revealed that the fans can sometimes be a bit too passionate at times.
“Fan interaction, definitely,” Cobb said. “It’s definitely huge in Japan, and Japan has the most wonderful fans I’ve ever dealt with in my career. In WWE it’s a little more strange, because fans will wait at airports. There are times, with an early morning flight or a late one, and I have no idea why the fans know when these flights come in, but fans will wait at baggage claim. Part of me can be annoyed by that, but another part of me makes me appreciate fans more, because they’re so passionate that they want to come to the airport at 5 in the morning for a chance to interact with one of us.”
Cobb would round off by saying that he was actually expecting a much more muted response from the NJPW crowd when he returned to the company in August. However, he has been welcomed with overwhelmingly positive messages from people who are happy to see him back in NJPW, and his experiences with the fans in WWE have made him appreciate the Japanese fans more. Cobb will get the chance to get closure on his time with his former stable, the United Empire, when he goes one-on-one with current faction leader Callum Newman at NJPW Destruction in Kobe on September 27.
Please credit the original source when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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