Major Update on Powerhouse Hobbs Ahead of the WWE Royal Rumble

WWE Chief Content Officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque promised a number of surprises at the Royal Rumble on Saturday, and one of them may have just been spoiled. Read on if you choose to do so.

Former AEW star Powerhouse Hobbs signed with WWE earlier this month, but he has yet to make his debut for the company. It's been speculated that his imminent arrival could happen as soon as this weekend in Saudi Arabia, and Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select is out with a new report that makes that seem like a definite possibility.

"While obviously we can’t confirm that he will be in the Rumble, WWE sources did indicate that Hobbs was scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia this week," Ross Sapp said in his report. "He did not travel over with the rest of the team that came over after WWE Raw, and haven’t heard of him popping up yet."

Ross Sapp reported earlier this week that WWE representatives were confident in their ability to keep their unannounced talent a secret this year, and the lack of visual confirmation on many of the rumored names indicates that the company is doing a good job of accomplishing that goal.

If Hobbs did in fact make the trip to Saudi Arabia, it's extraordinarily unlikely that the WWE creative team would then choose not to use him on the show. It's also possible for him to debut and not be a competitor in the Men's Royal Rumble Match.

Whenever he does pop up on WWE programming, Hobbs is expected to have a new name. The company trademarked 'Royce Keys' in recent weeks and that is believed to be the name of choice for the former TNT Champion.

AEW made a strong push to keep Powerhouse Hobbs

All Elite Wrestling did not lose the services of Powerhouse Hobbs without a fight. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that the 34-year-old received a big offer to stay. One that may have rivaled what was given to Bryan Danielson when he made the jump to AEW in the fall of 2021.

“He got a great AEW offer to stay, but I don’t know his WWE offer," Meltzer said. "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.”

Meltzer speculated that if WWE offered Hobbs anywhere close the amount of money that AEW was offering, then he should be given a decent push upon his arrival.

While AEW missed out on retaining Powerhouse Hobbs, they were able to pry Tommaso Ciampa away from WWE. The Psycho Killer spoke to The Takedown on SI about his decision to join All Elite Wrestling and you can read all about it here.

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