Jeff Cobb made a surprise appearance on the February 12 episode of AEW Dynamite as a hired gun for Chris Jericho. Cobb was billed as "the hottest free agent in wrestling" as his ROH contract expired at the end of 2019 and he was technically a free agent despite still working shows for ROH.
Appearing on ROHStrong, Cobb discussed his Dynamite debut.
"January 1, my contract expired with ROH. I made it clear I want to stay and work with ROH because I believe in the company and direction. My goal was to stay, but this opportunity came up and I took it. I feel it was good for both parties because people that only watch AEW are like, 'what's Ring of Honor?' Now they look at ROH and there are more eyes that wouldn't have been on ROH that are there. I think it helped everybody in the grand scheme. It was fun. Good payday."
When asked if AEW kept him hidden away from everyone to keep the secret, Cobb said, "Nobody knew that I was coming. It was maybe five or six people. Cody Rhodes knew, Jon Moxley knew. I came early because I had to do some behind the scenes stuff and everybody that came in during call time were like, 'What are you doing here?' It was fun messing with them."
Cobb signed a one-year deal with ROH in 2018, saying that ROH's partnership with NJPW played a big role in him joining the promotion. He still works regularly for ROH, but isn't under an exclusive contract at the moment.
"It's a double-edged sword," Cobb said when asked about signing an exclusive deal with a promotion, "because during my time in Ring of Honor, I liked being there and the schedule was great on my body because I got to heal from previous years where I went crazy and did a ton of wrestling matches. But during my time being exclusive to ROH, I missed people that I saw every weekend. There are pros and cons of being exclusive and non-exclusive. Eventually, I'm going to settle down."
Cobb was scheduled to compete at ROH 18th Anniversary and Supercard of Honor before both events were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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