On the latest episode of Dynamite , New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Jeff Cobb made his debut in All Elite Wrestling , aligning himself with Chris Jericho and The Inner Circle faction at the end of the show. However, Cobb’s appearance might be a sign of the types of wrestlers that the company will sign moving forward.
As quoted by Cultaholic , AEW announcer Jim Ross revealed on the latest episode of the Grilling JR podcast that the company is only interested in signing “athletic big guys.” In addition to Cobb, the company has been linked with some other available heavyweight talents in recent weeks, and Ross is keen on bringing them into the fold.
“I don’t know who they’ll sign, but I’m a big fan of Lance Archer, a fan of Jeff Cobb. I’m a big fan of Luke Harper in WWE. Good talents. Guys like that have ability. That we can all see have not been given the total opportunity to become a global star with the spotlight on them.”
As The Inquisitr previously reported, AEW has been in talks with Archer about joining the upstart promotion for several weeks now. Harper, on the other hand, is expected to make his long-rumored debut on the March 18 episode of Dynamite , as documented by Wrestling Inc .
. @RealJeffCobb is all elite. Welcome to #AEW pic.twitter.com/K6ilanx58W
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) February 13, 2020
However, while the company is only interested in bringing in larger athletes for the foreseeable future, they aren’t in any hurry to add to the roster. As the Cultaholic report notes, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter said the company doesn’t want to overload the roster until they are in a position to accommodate more performers.
“They’ve slowed down on new people because they don’t have enough TV to feature all the guys they have. So they aren’t rushing to sign new guys.”
Meltzer also revealed that Cobb turned down a full-time AEW contract as he still wants to enjoy the benefits of being a free agent. While it’s likely that he’ll appear on television from time to time, fans can still expect to see him wrestle for other promotions.
It remains to be seen which other superstars will join AEW down the line, but focusing on heavyweights is understandable since the majority of the roster is made up of smaller guys. However, all of the most successful wrestling companies feature a variety of performers of all shapes and sizes, and AEW appears to be making moves to diversify its roster in that regard.
