Jeff Cobb Confirms He Was Under WWE Contract During 2025 NJPW Road To Wrestling Dontaku Tour

Jeff Cobb looks back at his exit from NJPW.

It was in April 2025 that Jeff Cobb wrestled his final match for New Japan Pro-Wrestling before he went off to WWE.

Cobb spent a year with the company before being let go. He would then make his return to NJPW. The company’s official website rolled out an interview with Cobb, and he shared that he initially planned on finishing the 2025 Wrestling Dontaku tour, but he had to leave because he was under contract to WWE.

“I don’t think it’s 100% my responsibility to beat him up,” Cobb said about Callum Newman. “It was Will Ospreay who brought him into the group after all. I did leave in weird circumstances- I had planned on finishing up at Dontaku, but circumstances changed, and I had to go because I was under contract; I can’t control that. I don’t blame Callum for being upset if he wants to be upset. But at the same time, if I hadn’t left, would he have become the youngest IWGP Heavyweight Champion of all time? You never know. In a way, he should be thanking me, but I guess he has all this anger, and like I said in my post-match comments, I need to teach him some manners.  I mean, he nearly cut a dude’s head off with a sword in Ryogoku! So yeah, I’m definitely going to take him to the woodshed and teach him some manners, since his mother didn’t, apparently.”

Cobb is set to face Callum Newman at NJPW Destruction in Kobe.