Rikishi Discusses Royce Keys (Powerhouse Hobbs) Leaving AEW & Joining WWE, Recalls Telling Keys In 2025 To ‘Take A Chance’ On Himself

In April 2025, Rikishi told Hobbs to bet on himself.

Entering the 2026 WWE men’s Royal Rumble match at the number 14 spot was former AEW TNT and World Trios Champion Powerhouse Hobbs, who is now going by Royce Keys.

Hobbs was in the match for nearly 10 minutes before The Vision (Bronson Reed, Logan Paul & Austin Theory) teamed up to eliminate him.

Keys’ arrival at WWE was discussed by Rikishi on the Hall of Famer’s OFF THE TOP podcast. Rikishi recalled a conversation he had with Keys in 2025 while he was still with AEW and told him to take a chance on himself.

“Well, he’s always looked amazing. You know, this kid here, Hobbs, I’m gonna stick with Hobbs, right? Because that’s what I know him as. When he came to train with me down here — we used to run shows together… He went through the system. He did all the independents. He went through all the ups and downs, the bullsh*t of, you know, certain independent promoters and how to survive in the game. But he was always never far away from me. He would just pick up the phone and he would call me, ‘Coach, hey, you know, how do I deal with this?’ He was always asking questions, and you know, I just seen him recently. I believe it was WrestleCon last year in Las Vegas, and you know, he stopped by. He’s always been respectful, even when he was in AEW at the time. He would always just out of the random blue and just text me and how am I doing? And so forth so we had a little chat. I kind of knew he was going to jump ship. It was easy over there for him in AEW but, he wasn’t being used the right way. It’s like, well, listen, you can always leave and go to WWE. If you’re not happy and it’s not about the money anymore, WWE is where it’s at. I mean, every single wrestler on the planet that’s out here in the independent circuit is gunning to be able to be seen or go to WWE. So I said, ‘Take a chance. If you gonna take a chance, take a chance on yourself,’ and so, for me, that was the end of our conversation, until I seen the highlight, and when he came out, man, I was so happy for him.”

Keys has not made an appearance on WWE television following the Royal Rumble, nor is it known what brand he’s on. He eliminated Damian Priest from the Rumble, and Priest is on SmackDown.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit OFF THE TOP with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.