Making A Finisher: Jeff Cobb’s Tour Of The Islands
A finishing move in the world of wrestling is crucial. Something that can make or break a pro wrestler, often the coolest looking moves don’t click, while something as goofy as “The People’s Elbow” becomes iconic. Each wrestler has a different method to their madness when landing on their signature, match ending match up. In this series, “Making A Finisher,” Fightful.com will go in depth with wrestlers as they explain their moves, discuss how they were developed, who took it the best, the worst, why they stopped doing some of them, and the psychology behind them.
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There isn’t a whole lot left in pro wrestling that is new. After over a hundred years, and decades on cable TV, at some point when do we just run out of things to see?
Coming up with a finishing maneuver for a wrestler that identifies with them can be make or break pushes and careers. When you’re capable of almost anything, sometimes there’s art in simplicity. That’s what worked for Jeff Cobb.
Also known as Matanza Cueto, Cobb is able to do almost anything in the pro wrestling ring at nearly 300 pounds. Suplexing someone on their dome, pressing them overhead, or flipping through the air — no task is too tall for the Olympian. However, “the end” is spelled when he nails opponents with a variation of a basic powerslam, the Tour of the Islands.
“I actually saw one of my buddies, who runs a company in Hawai’i now which—cheap plug—[UCE Wrestling] out in Hawai’i. They run monthly shows and I started training and he was kind of going back and forth. [Steve Aussie], that’s his kid. His name’s Aleki. He was going back and forth between Hawai’i and Florida training with his Uncle Afa. I was on a show with him in Hawai’i and did that move early on in the match and I was like “That was a pretty cool move.” He’s like “Yeah, I mean, I don’t know if I can do it to heavier people,” and I said “I think can.” [And then when I moved to California, that wasn’t my original finisher]. It was actually Joey Ryan, I wrestled him at the famous APW Garage from Beyond the Mat, and he was like, “Hey, man. This move looks way cooler than this other move. Maybe you should switch it up and use that as your finisher.” I just so happened to beat him that night with that move and Tour of the Islands was born,” Cobb told Fightful
The move is a basic powerslam, but rotated the opposite direction. Most wrestlers are more top-heavy than bottom heavy (it’s an upper body business, kid), and it creates a whole new set of challenges. Traditionally, that isn’t the type of bump opponents are used to taking in that situation. Though they do initially go in that direction, Cobb stops the rotation, before spinning back to his left and crashing into the mat. Cobb told us that’s the most difficult aspect of the signature move to him,
“I think it’s the stopping part is the hard part for me. I think with my background with Olympic wrestling and all the Olympic lifts that we did in training, and I still incorporate into my workout now. I think it definitely helps that I’m explosive. ‘Cause I think all I need is that little help on the way back and once the weight gets going I’m going for the ride too. It’s not just the other guy. I’m on a better ride ‘cause I’m not the one getting squished,” said Cobb.
Cobb’s skill set is almost superhuman. Incredible strength and agility added to an Olympic wrestling pedigree. Despite the fact that Cobb is capable of things that most aren’t, even he has some struggles when busting out the Tour of the Islands when throwing down the hosses of the wrestling world.
“Definitely the heavier guys pose more of a challenge, I’d definitely call up on the spirits of the islands to help me out on this,” he told us.
That’s not to say that he doesn’t run into problems pulling off the move against cruiserweights or smaller wrestlers. Sometimes, it’s that Cobb pulls off the move a little too well on them.
“It’s usually the heavier guys, sometimes the lighter guys throw me off ‘cause I’m used to after the stop and going back in the reverse direction I’m usually just exploding as hard as I can, and sometimes the lighter guys I end up over rotating and going for an even crazier ride saying “Oh, holy crap!,'” Cobb said.
The Tour of the Islands has led him to major championships in Ring of Honor, Lucha Underground, and to feature spots across PWG, All Elite Wrestling, and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Check out previous editions of Fightful’s Making A Finisher feature below:
Adam “Hangman” Page’s Rite Of Passage
Damien Priest’s South Of Heaven Chokeslam
Stevie Ray’s Slapjack, Harlem Heat’s Harlem Hangover
“Switchblade” Jay White’s Blade Runner
Chritopher Daniels’ Angel’s Wings
Magnum TA’s Belly-to-Belly Suplex
Darren Young’s Crossface Chickenwing
