Jeff Cobb has recalled an incident that made him think WWE mistook him for another wrestler.
After joining WWE in 2025, Jeff Cobb was renamed JC Mateo and allied himself with the MFTs. During that time, the group began using face paint similar to the type Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa wore when they wrestled in NJPW as the Guerillas of Destiny.
While the rest of the team was used to wearing the paint, it was a new experience for Cobb. The closest he had come to it in his career was wearing a mask while working in Lucha Underground as Matanza Cueto.
During an interview with SOTO619, Cobb was asked if the mask or paint was harder to wrestle in. The star didn’t hesitate to say it was the paint, not least because he hadn’t done it before. He also recalled being told it would be the same as when he did it in Japan, making him think they had confused him with another star.
“Paint. Because I’ve never done that before. Although, to be fair, I’d never done the mask thing before. But the paint was truly different. Because I was told, ‘You’re going to wear the paint like you did in Japan,’ and I never wore paint in Japan. I think they got me confused with somebody else.
“But yeah, paint was hard because I had to find paint… But, yeah, the paint was definitely the hardest just for the fact that, like, with the mask, I could put it on. I couldn’t breathe, but I could put it on, and then when I’m done, I could take it off. But the paint took forever to get off. I had to use the wipes. Then I found out the wipes that I used got recalled. Then, for some reason, the make-up ladies still use them…”
Jeff Cobb Was Released From WWE In May 2026
Only a year after arriving in the company, Jeff Cobb was let go from WWE in May 2026 alongside fellow MFT, Tonga Loa. The same batch of releases saw the departures of Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, who have since joined AEW as The New Level, Kofi and Austin Creed.
Cobb has since returned to NJPW, where he is now part of Yota Tsuji’s faction, Unbound Co.
