JC Mateo aka Jeff Cobb's former colleague makes bold claim after he joins WWE

JC Mateo, aka Jeff Cobb, recently joined WWE. Now, his former colleague has made a bold claim about him.

Francesco Akira is the latest to comment on JC Mateo leaving NJPW. Jeff Cobb made a huge name for himself in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he worked for several years. After a good run with the promotion, he left the company earlier this year. He then showed up at WWE Backlash 2025 and helped Jacob Fatu retain the United States Championship. He even made his in-ring debut this past week on SmackDown against LA Knight.

During a recent interview on Royal Palace Life Radio, Francesco Akira opened up about JC's departure from NJPW, stating that he never wanted to leave the company but had to since things didn't work out for him.

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"I feel like I think same as Oka (Great-O-Khan). When (Will) Ospreay left, he left for AEW and that was the point of saying congratulations to him. But Jeff (Cobb), I think he really wanted to stay in New Japan. He loved New Japan and he wanted to be here but unfortunately, it didn’t work out so…" [H/T - Fightful]

Vince Russo bashes WWE for their presentation of JC Mateo, aka Jeff Cobb

When Jeff Cobb showed up on SmackDown alongside Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu, he was dressed in all black. Solo then revealed that his name was now JC Mateo. Although he won his first WWE match, Vince Russo didn't get a good initial impression of him.

Speaking on a recent edition of Sportskeeda Wrestling's BroDown, Vince Russo said WWE didn't give fans a good initial impression of Mateo by dressing him in black and giving him a common name.

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"Here’s the thing. Again, bro, these are supposed to be stars. They are on television, they are supposed to be stars. So, this is the first time, if you did not watch Backlash, this is the first time you’re seeing JC Mateo. So, he’s got a regular guy's name, and he’s dressed in black. This is the presentation of a star? This is the first impression this guy is getting on television and he’s dressed in black and has every man’s name. What?" [42:47 onwards]

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Mateo in WWE.

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