{"id":135098,"date":"2025-05-10T22:49:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T02:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=135098"},"modified":"2025-05-10T22:49:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T02:49:02","slug":"jeff-cobb-debuts-at-wwe-backlash-who-is-mr-athletic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/05\/10\/jeff-cobb-debuts-at-wwe-backlash-who-is-mr-athletic\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Cobb Debuts at WWE Backlash: Who Is &#8220;Mr. Athletic?&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The highly<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/05\/10\/wwe-backlash-2025-former-njpw-star-debut\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"> anticipated WWE\u00a0 debut<\/a> of pro-wrestling veteran Jeff Cobb finally happened at WWE\u2019s Backlash event in St Louis on Saturday night.<\/p>\n<p>Cobb interfered in the United States Championship fatal 4-way match, where he assisted Solo Sikoa in attacking LA Knight, leading to a successful championship defence for Jacob Fatu.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">IT&#8217;S JEFF COBB!!! \ud83d\ude32<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WWEBacklash?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#WWEBacklash<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SbmSBqsIKn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/SbmSBqsIKn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 WWE (@WWE) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE\/status\/1921347183774736647?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 10, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Hawaiian-born Cobb had not been seen since he last wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling last month, where he was defeated by Japanese icon Hiroshi Tanahashi at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.<\/p>\n<p>For those unfamiliar with Cobb, he is an extremely versatile powerhouse who possesses a tremendous amount of athleticism, given that he has a background in amateur wrestling.<\/p>\n<p>The 42-year-old has been a champion in promotions such as Lucha Underground, Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and the NJPW, as mentioned earlier. He was also a key member of the United Empire Stable.<\/p>\n<p>Cobb is not foreign to being on television for an American Promotion, as the 15-year vet has appeared on All Elite Wrestling programming. He has rubbed shoulders with such names as Kenny Omega, Bryan Danielson, and Jon Moxley.<\/p>\n<p>WWE fans will be in for a treat with Cobb as he should be a regular feature on Friday Night SmackDown after aligning himself with Sikoa, Fatu, and the currently injured Tongans.<\/p>\n<p>Cobb may replace Fatu as the muscle in Sikoa\u2019s faction (that is no longer referred to as the bloodline), as the Samoan Werewolf has teased an eventual face turn.<\/p>\n<p>Tensions were extremely high as Fatu looked bemused as to why Cobb intervened in the match, leading to him walking out on Cobb and Sikoa after he retained the United States Championship.<\/p>\n<p>Cobb should be a great addition to the Men\u2019s SmackDown roster, and fans of his should be pleased that he is being immediately inserted into a story between Sikoa and Fatu.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><i>Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\"><i>Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0for more on WWE Backlash 2025, Jeff Cobb, and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>You can check out WWE programming on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/title\/81788927\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>Netflix<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0(Raw),\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usanetwork.com\/wwe-friday-night-smackdown\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>USA Network<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cwtv.com\/shows\/wwe-nxt\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>The CW<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0(NXT),\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/tubitv.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>Tubi<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0(WWE Evolve),\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aetv.com\/wwe\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>A&amp;E<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0(WWE Superstar Sunday \u2013 Rivals, WWE LFG, and Greatest Moments) and\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>Peacock<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0(WWE Main Event as well as archives and premium live event streaming). Follow WWE on social media to relive top moments and matches on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/wwe\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>YouTube<\/i><\/a><i>, and catch fast-paced action on X (<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/i\/events\/1773457579022155776?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>WWE Speed<\/i><\/a><i>).<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The highly anticipated WWE\u00a0 debut of pro-wrestling veteran Jeff Cobb finally happened at WWE\u2019s Backlash event in St Louis on Saturday night. Cobb interfered in the United States Championship fatal 4-way match, where he assisted Solo Sikoa in attacking LA Knight, leading to a successful championship defence for Jacob Fatu. IT&#8217;S JEFF COBB!!! \ud83d\ude32#WWEBacklash pic.twitter.com\/SbmSBqsIKn [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5523,"featured_media":135107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2192,4],"tags":[150,3006,694,8343,47,144,9343,9365],"class_list":["post-135098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wrestling","category-wwe","tag-backlash","tag-jacob-fatu","tag-jeff-cobb","tag-solo-sikoa","tag-wwe","tag-wwe-backlash","tag-wwe-backlash-2025","tag-wwe-backlash-st-louis"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5523"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135098"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135108,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135098\/revisions\/135108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}