Royce Keys Has Very Personal Reason For New WWE Name

Royce Keys made his WWE debut at the Royal Rumble with a name that means a lot to him.

It was revealed earlier in January that Powerhouse Hobbs’ nearly six-year run in AEW was ending because he was ready to move on to WWE.

By January 23rd, various reports confirmed that Hobbs signed with WWE and would be getting a new name.

There was a lot of speculation that Powerhouse Hobbs would debut in WWE at the Royal Rumble, but it wasn’t known for sure if it was going to happen.

Whenever a wrestler goes from WWE to AEW or vice versa and gets a name change, a lot of fans don’t like it because they are used to seeing that wrestler with the name that we know them from. However, sometimes names are changed for legal reasons, and a lot of cases in WWE it’s because the company wants to trademark the name for marketing purposes.

Prior to Keys’ debut in WWE, it was reported that WWE filed a trademark for “Royce Keys,” and it was known that it would be the new name of the 35-year-old former Hobbs.

Fightful Select reports that the reason he is Royce Keys is that Royce is the name of his youngest son, and Keys is the maiden name of his late mother.

Royce Keys Had One Elimination In WWE Royal Rumble

At the WWE Royal Rumble in Riyadh, the former Hobbs made his official WWE debut. At the start of his entrance, the name “Powerhouse Hobbs” appeared on the screen, but then it went away, and his new name, Royce Keys, was shown.

During the Rumble match, Keys had some showdowns with some big WWE names and eliminated former World Champion Damian Priest.

Keys also went face-to-face with Cody Rhodes, someone Keys knows from his AEW days. The announcers referenced that they had a past together, but clearly weren’t going to say AEW by name.

What isn’t known yet is whether Royce Keys will be on Raw or SmackDown moving forward. Fans will have to watch WWE television to find out.

Regarding his WWE signing, it has been reported that Royce Keys turned down a significant money offer from AEW to join WWE, and many people in AEW had good things to say about the former Hobbs after he left the company.