History of Jeff Cobb in Timeline

July 11, 1982

Jeffrey Cobb (ジェフリー・コブ, Jefurī Kobu; born July 11, 1982) is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler. As of May 2025, he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name JC Mateo and is a member of The Bloodline. He is best known for his tenure in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he performed under his real name and was a member of United Empire.

2009

As an amateur wrestler, Cobb represented Guam at the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he became the nation's flag bearer in the opening ceremony and competed in the men's light heavyweight freestyle category. He transitioned to professional wrestling in 2009.

2009

Cobb began professional wrestling in 2009 training and working for Action Zone Wrestling in Hawaii. He was given the name "Mr. Athletic". He won the AZW Heavyweight Title a record setting three times. He made appearances for many independent promotions in Northern California such as All Pro Wrestling, Supreme Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Bushido, Fighting Spirit Pro, Phoenix Pro Wrestling and PREMIER Wrestling, where he held their heavyweight championship for 427 days. In September 2014, he received a tryout at the WWE Performance Center.

2015

Cobb signed to Lucha Underground in 2015. He debuted for the promotion on March 22, 2016, under a mask and the ring name "The Monster" Matanza Cueto, the storyline brother of Dario Cueto, winning the Lucha Underground Championship in his first match.

April 09, 2016

Matanza remained undefeated until April 9, 2016, when he was pinned by Rey Mysterio in an Aztec Warfare match, losing the Lucha Underground Championship in the process.

May 20, 2016

On May 20, 2016, Cobb made his debut for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), losing to Chris Hero. On September 2, Cobb entered the 2016 Battle of Los Angeles, from which he was eliminated in the first round by Ricochet.

December 16, 2016

On December 16, 2016, Cobb and Matt Riddle defeated The Young Bucks. Cobb and Riddle were later known in PWG as "The Chosen Bros". On February 18, 2017, Cobb and Riddle would defeat the Unbreakable F'n Machines (Brian Cage and Michael Elgin). On March 18, 2017, the team would beat OI4K (Dave Crist and Jake Crist). On April 21, 2017, Cobb, in singles action, would defeat Keith Lee. On May 19, 2017, The Chosen Bros defeated reDRagon (Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish). On October 20, The Chosen Bros defeated the Lucha Brothers (Rey Fenix and Penta el Zero M) to win the PWG World Tag Team Championship. They retained the titles until April 20, 2018, when they lost them against The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz and Dezmond Xavier). On September 15–16, 2018, he went on to win the 2018 Battle of Los Angeles, defeating Darby Allin in the first round, Rey Horus in the second round, Trevor Lee in the third round, and Shingo Takagi and Bandido in the final.

May 27, 2017

On May 27, 2017, Cobb made his Progress Wrestling debut by defeating Nathan Cruz in the first round of the Super Strong Style 16 Tournament 2017. The following day, Cobb lost his second round match to Matt Riddle. On May 29, Cobb received his first shot at the Progress World Championship, losing to Pete Dunne.

November 06, 2017

On November 6, 2017, Cobb was announced as a participant in New Japan Pro-Wrestling's 2017 World Tag League, where he would team with Michael Elgin. Cobb and Elgin did not get along behind the scenes with Elgin making disparaging remarks about his tag team partner in private messages that were made public while the tournament was still in progress. The two finished the tournament on December 9 with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals. On June 11, 2018, it was announced that Cobb would return to New Japan Pro-Wrestling for Kizuna Road shows. On June 17, it was announced that Jeff Cobb would face Hirooki Goto for his NEVER Openweight Championship. He would go on to lose the match. Cobb spent the bulk of late 2018 participating in the World Tag League tournament with partner Michael Elgin, winning eight matches, but failing to qualify for the finals. On April 6, 2019, Cobb won the NEVER Openweight Championship in a Winner takes all match against Will Ospreay at G1 Supercard. Cobb's ROH World Television Championship was also on the line. Cobb would eventually lose the NEVER Openweight Championship to Taichi in the first night of Wrestling Dontaku 2019. Cobb then competed in his first 2019 G1 Climax Tournament where he finished with 8 points thus failing to advance to the finals. On November 6, 2019, Cobb was announced to be in one of the teams in the 2019 World Tag League Tournament with tag partner Mikey Nicholls where they finished with 16 points failing to advance to the finals.

2018

His character was killed off in the fourth season, which aired in 2018. Despite this, it was reported in April 2019 that Cobb was seeking legal action to be released from his Lucha Underground contract. This came after similar motions from others on the show, including King Cuerno and Joey Ryan. More days later, it would be confirmed that he had been released from the company.

July 21, 2018

On July 21, 2018, Cobb made his Ring of Honor debut by attacking Eli Isom and FR Josie at a television taping. At Death Before Dishonor XVI on September 28, Cobb confronted Punishment Martinez following his defense of the ROH World Television Championship. At a television taping the following night, Cobb, in his first official match, defeated Martinez to win the ROH World Television Championship. Cobb then would win both of his matches during the two-day Glory By Honor XVI event in October, all three of his matches during the Global Wars 2018 tour in November, and defeated Adam Page at Final Battle in December to round out the year.

January 2019

On October 19, Cobb defeated Walter at Smokey and the Bandido to win the PWG World Championship. He then successfully defended it against Trevor Lee at Hand of Doom in January 2019. He would also successfully defend his title against Jonathan Gresham and BOLA runner up Bandido during his reign. He then competed in his 4th Battle of Los Angeles but fell in the second round to David Starr. He would go on to drop the title after 421 days in a rematch with eventual tournament winner Bandido later that year.

2020

2019 began with Cobb winning a four-way match at Honor Reigns Supreme, and then winning all three of his matches (two of them being tag team matches) during the Road to G1 Supercard tour. At ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds Night 2, Cobb would lose the World Television Championship to Shane Taylor. After Cobb's contract ran out in 2020, Cobb stated he would still wrestle for ROH, albeit a lot less. In October 2020, his profile was moved to the alumni section.

February 12, 2020

Cobb made his debut for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on the February 12, 2020 episode of Dynamite, attacking Jon Moxley alongside The Inner Circle. He wrestled his AEW debut match on the following week's episode of Dynamite, in a losing effort to Moxley.

August 2020

In August 2020, Cobb competed in the New Japan Cup USA where he defeated Tanga Loa in the first round before losing to Kenta in the semi-finals. Cobb was also announced to be competing in the 2020 G1 Climax tournament where he again finished with 8 points, failing to advance to the finals. It was also reported that Cobb had signed a contract with New Japan, officially joining the roster full time. He would join Will Ospreay's United Empire stable (then known as the Empire) at the November 15 show, teaming with Great-O-Khan in the annual World Tag League thus turning heel in the process, though finishing the tournament with 10 points, failing to advance to the finals. At Wrestle Kingdom 15 in Tokyo Dome he challenged Shingo Takagi for the NEVER Openweight Championship but lost the match.

May 25, 2022

On the May 25, 2022 episode of Dynamite, Cobb and Great-O-Khan interrupted a match for the ROH World Tag Team Championships, between FTR and Roppongi Vice attacking both teams, and raising the titles signaling their intentions of challenging for the championships. On the June 15 episode of Dynamite, and after O-Khan and Cobb and the rest of United Empire attacked both tag teams, Ospreay was announced to face Orange Cassidy, whilst Cobb and O-Khan were placed into a triple-threat tag-team Winner Takes All match for their newly won IWGP Tag Team Championships and FTR's ROH World Tag Team Championships, along with Roppongi Vice at Forbidden Door. At the event, Cobb and O-Khan both failed to capture the ROH World Tag Team Titles and lost the IWGP Tag Team Titles to FTR.

December 10, 2022

On December 10, 2022 at Final Battle, Cobb returned to ROH, defeating Máscara Dorada on the pre-show.

March 29, 2023

On the March 29, 2023 episode of Dynamite, he challenged Kenny Omega for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, in a losing effort. On the May 15, 2024 episode of Dynamite, Cobb teamed with Kyle Fletcher, in a losing effort against Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley).

May 10, 2025

On May 10, 2025, Cobb made his WWE debut at Backlash, where he assisted Jacob Fatu in retaining his WWE United States Championship, establishing himself as a heel and joining The Bloodline. The following week on SmackDown, he was given the new ring name, JC Mateo, and won his debut match against LA Knight.