The former TNT Champion appears to be WWE-bound.
On January 15, Powerhouse Hobbs officially brought his six-year tenure with All Elite Wrestling to an end by allowing his contract to expire after choosing not to sign an extension, with multiple reports indicating that he is on his way to WWE.
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer revealed that AEW made Hobbs an offer that would have put him in line with several major stars across both AEW and WWE before the first wave of salary increases.
“He got a great AEW offer to stay but I don’t know his WWE offer. 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, which tells you how much having a promotional war has increased salaries. It would be in line with what Bryan Danielson got to jump from WWE to AEW, maybe slightly less but in line. It would be more than guys the level Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were making four years ago (less than they are making now) and in the range of what a guy the level of Rollins were making around the same time and nearly triple of what many significantly high WWE stars were making in the first year or so of AEW after the first round of increases had taken place.”
-Dave Meltzer
The January 17 edition of AEW Collision, taped three days earlier, saw The Opps lose the AEW World Trios Championship to Adam Page and JetSpeed in what proved to be Powerhouse Hobbs’s final appearance for the promotion.
Multiple reports have claimed that Hobbs is set to arrive in WWE under the name ‘Royce Keys’, which the company filed to trademark on January 20. It remains unclear when he will appear on screen in WWE, but with the Royal Rumble taking place in Saudi Arabia tomorrow night, many fans believe they may not have to wait much longer for an answer.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Powerhouse Hobbs’ move from AEW to WWE as soon as we hear more.
