Powerhouse Hobbs, who might be going by a brand new ring name very soon, is reportedly Saudi Arabia-bound, based on a brand new report. Hobbs left AEW when his contract expired on January 14, and he reportedly signed to WWE ahead of the Royal Rumble.
In response to Fightful Select, WWE sources indicated that Hobbs was scheduled to travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where the Rumble will probably be held on Saturday, though he didn’t travel on the chartered flight with other WWE talent who left for the country following “WWE Raw” on Monday. The outlet hadn’t heard of him popping up anywhere in Saudi yet, and couldn’t confirm that he will probably be within the Rumble match. It was also reported earlier within the week that WWE expected that keeping Rumble surprises secret could be easier this 12 months. WWE reportedly had several flights scheduled throughout the week to bring talent in to the country.
Fightful confirmed a report from Dave Meltzer within the Wrestling Observer Newsletter on Friday that Hobbs’ offer from AEW to stay with the corporate was a giant money deal. Meltzer reported that the deal was much higher than any talent had ever been offered, outside of Chris Jericho in 2019. He wrote within the newsletter that it was just like Bryan Danielson’s contract offer in 2021 when he first signed with AEW.
The previous TNT and AEW World Trios Champion can even be getting a brand new ring name, which has been reported to be “Royce Keyes.” Royce is the name of Hobbs’ son.