Possible Spoiler On WWE Debut In Royal Rumble Match
A newcomer could be competing in his first WWE match in the Royal Rumble.
After spending nearly six years in AEW, Powerhouse Hobbs is going to WWE after letting his deal with AEW expire earlier in January.
While the exact date of when Hobbs signed with WWE wasn’t known, it was reported on January 23rd that Powerhouse Hobbs has officially signed with WWE.
As for when Hobbs might debut in a WWE ring, it can happen at any time, and many people want to see it happen as soon as the Royal Rumble on January 31st in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Fightful Select reports that the former Powerhouse Hobbs is supposed to be in Saudi Arabia for the Royal Rumble. Fightful can’t confirm that Hobbs will be in the Rumble match, but they noted that WWE sources informed them that Hobbs was heading to Saudi Arabia.
It was also mentioned by Fightful that Hobbs didn’t travel to Saudi Arabia with the rest of the WWE crew that left on Tuesday morning after Raw.
Regarding his WWE name, it’s expected that Hobbs will be known as Royce Keys (or it may be spelled Keyes). Hobbs has a son named Royce, so that’s where the name comes from.
AEW Made A Significant Offer To Keep Powerhouse Hobbs, But He Chose WWE Instead
For AEW fans who may be upset with Hobbs signing with WWE instead of staying with AEW, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that AEW made a huge offer to keep Hobbs, but he opted to leave.
“He got a great AEW offer to stay but I don’t know his WWE offer. The AEW offer was much higher than I would have expected. It would have been a number that I believe would have been higher than anyone but Chris Jericho earned in AEW’s first year in 2019.
It would be in line with what Bryan Danielson got to jump from WWE to AEW, maybe slightly less but in line.
It would be more than guys the level Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were making four years ago (less than they are making now) and in the range of what a guy the level of Rollins were making around the same time and nearly triple of what many significantly high WWE stars were making in the first year or so of AEW after the first round of increases had taken place.”
If WWE did offer him similar money, in theory it would guarantee a decent push.”
The WWE Royal Rumble streams live on Saturday, January 31, at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, exclusively on ESPN in the United States and Netflix internationally.