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Pro Wrestling veteran Jeff Cobb has revealed that he turned down a lucrative offer from WWE last year.
Jeff Cobb has been wrestling for over 10 years, and in that time has performed in some of the biggest promotions in wrestling, including New Japan Pro Wrestling, AEW and Progress.
During a recent conversation with Petey Williams on the podcast Wrestling Perspective, Cobb stated that creative freedom is more important to him than a big paycheck.
“Definitely the creative freedom,” said Cobb. "I don’t want to get too much into detail, but if I wanted to just chase it for the money, I would have signed with WWE last year. But I chose not to because money’s not the end all be all for myself. When I had my first tryout in 2014, if they gave me a contract, I probably would have signed it back then just because I was at a different point in my career and a different point in my life. Fast forward eight years later, I’m happy I didn’t go there.” [H/T WrestlingNews.Co]
Jeff Cobb made a couple of appearances on AEW in February 2020, but the Hawaiian has not featured on the popular wrestling show since.
Jeff Cobb has no plans of working with WWE
Given Cobb's decade-plus experience, he is undoubtedly a talent that World Wrestling Entertainment would want to bring in.
However, continuing his conversation with Petey Williams, Cobb said that a WWE appearance would not define his wrestling career.
“I asked this to a bunch of people in the last year or two, ‘Is my career defined if I don’t go to WWE? Is it a failed career?’ A lot of the feedback I got from people that have worked for WWE were saying no. They’ve been telling me that your career isn’t less valued if you don’t go there. There’s been a lot of amazing people that haven’t gone there that are amazing Hall of Fame level wrestlers in the world. Jushin Thunder Liger wrestled one match for WWE. Does his career mean less? No, he just chose not to go there. So I kind of feel like the same would be for me.” [H/T WrestlingNews.Co]
The aforementioned Jushin Thunder Liger made his first in-ring appearance for World Wrestling Entertainment in 2015, when he faced off against Tyler Breeze at NXT Takeover Brooklyn.
Given the reports of performances being heavily scripted and produced in World Wrestling Entertainment, Cobb's decision to stay on the independent scene may be a wise one.
