New signee’s travel schedule leads to WWE Royal Rumble speculation
The men’s and women’s WWE Royal Rumble matches always feature surprise entrants with names like Chris Jericho being speculated on quite a bit over the last few months.
However, it’s Jericho’s former AEW rostermate Powerhouse Hobbs that is drawing attention for when he could make his WWE in-ring debut with one report leaning toward him potentially being in Saudi Arabia this weekend.
On Friday, Fightful Select reported that Hobbs, who will go by the name Royce Keys in his new promotional home, was scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia this week. However, they stated he did not travel over with the group that flew over after Monday’s Raw and there has yet to be reports of him in the country.
Hobbs/Keys was not on Friday’s SmackDown from Saudi Arabia.
The 35-year-old signed with WWE after five years in AEW where he was a former AEW Trios Champion and former TNT Champion. In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter and subsequent daily update, Dave Meltzer reported that AEW made “a very good offer” to keep Hobbs but wasn’t sure how much it was considered “as WWE believed he was coming for some time either way.”
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.