Royce Keys Reveals Why He Jumped Ship From AEW To WWE

Royce Keys (fka Powerhouse Hobbs) opened up on his decision to jump ship from AEW to WWE.

Royce Keys was in AEW from 2020 to 2026 under the name ‘Powerhouse Hobbs.’ At the beginning of this year, Hobbs departed All Elite Wrestling and made his WWE debut during the men’s Royal Rumble match earlier this year.

Royce Keys has had a notable presence on SmackDown for the past few months. He is also set for a six-man tag match at SummerSlam 2026, as he will team with LA Knight and Solo Sikoa to take on the team of Jacob Fatu and The Usos.

Royce Keys on his decision to jump ship from AEW to WWE

Speaking with 107.7 The Bone, Royce Keys revealed that he left AEW for personal reasons that he won’t speak on, while also admitting that his dream was to be a WWE Superstar:

A lot of personal ones that I won’t speak on, but the dream is always to be a WWE superstar, it’s all I dreamed about as a kid, and I will never live my life as to having what ifs. What if I would have went? What if I didn’t go?”

There was no second thought about putting pen to paper when that opportunity came up. You look at what WWE is, it’s the all and be all of professional wrestling, so why wouldn’t I want to go? I didn’t know where I was going when I started, I just know that once I signed I was a WWE superstar.”

Royce Keys also disclosed that he asked Triple H to perform in dark matches after signing with WWE to get better:

What I did ask of Hunter, and he had no problem with it and it was a ‘hell yeah’ was after I signed was to do dark matches every single TV taping. Every Raw, every SmackDown, every week for almost three months.”

Once I debuted at the Rumble people were like ‘where did he go?’, I was on the road every single week opening up the shows. Of course you’re not gonna see dark matches unless you’re in that city, but I was on the road, every single week, for about three months, doing dark matches, getting feedback, getting better.” [H/T WrestleTalk]

Royce Keys also called out fans for saying he is “buried” because he is wrestling dark matches since his WWE debut and also explained the importance of dark matches.