Thoughts on Royce Keys-WWE and Big Bill's AEW departure

Earlier this week, WWE Superstar Royce Keys sat down for an interview with ESPN's (South Jersey affiliate) Josh Henning and commented on how his first 6 months in The Epstein Class's favorite wrestling promotion have panned out:


Keys, then known as Powerhouse Hobbs, departed All Elite Wrestling at the beginning of the year and debuted weeks later at the annual WWE Premium Live Event, The Royal Rumble, and...that's pretty much been the highlight of his WWE tenure thus far. 

On the surface, the timeline of events should make you pause:

  • Final appearance w/AEW was January 15
  • Debuts at the Rumble on January 31
  • A report from the Observer reveals Keys is older than generally believed (41-years old vs. 35)
  • Wrestles a series of dark matches/enhancement matches for lower-tiered programming
  • Keys wins the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on Smackdown
And...that's pretty much it. He lost to GUNTHER and is now involved in a program with Damian Priest, R-Truth, and Solo Sika. 

Woof.

I initially wondered whether WWE was unaware of his actual age and had decided to nix any plans they may have had for him, but it's difficult to believe a company as large and profitable as TKO would make such a mistake. So, it appears that Keys was brought to the main roster without plans for a sustained push, which is far more likely than TKO being ignorant of his actual age. 

Keys is 41 years old and clearly had a ceiling in AEW, and it seems like being part of the WWE machine was a genuine dream of his, so I certainly don't criticize him for making the jump. Still, Keys is rapidly becoming another example of the grass not always being greener on the other side. 

Ricky Saints, who, unlike Hobbs, had a run in NXT, has struggled mightily to get over with their audience. "Timeless" Toni Storm sentenced the former Mariah May to a "lifetime mediocrity." Rey Fenix was quite familiar with catering prior to his AAA run, while his brother, Penta, continues a meaningless run with the Intercontinental Championship. Aliester Black was released, and don't even get me started on Rusev. 

The most successful of the recent AEW-to-WWE jumps has been Danhausen. 

Yeah... 

It's looking like Keys' WWE run will ultimately be predictably disappointing. He is underutilized and unquestionably in a worse spot than he was in AEW, at least coming from a fan's perspective. 

Fightful Select reported yesterday afternoon that Big Bill is departing All Elite Wrestling and intends to sign with WWE. 

Big Bill has been with AEW since August 2022 and will return to WWE after an 8-year absence. Big Bill - who will likely go back to his WWE name Big Cass - will reportedly revive his tag team partnership with Enzo Amore, who was let go by WWE in 2018 following allegations of sexual assault. 

Personally, I'm disappointed to see Big Bill go - especially when considering his rumored WWE plans. Big Cass, Amore, and their former manager, Carmella, were a very popular act over a decade ago. It's also an outdated act, so the duo had better work on updating the shtick before it quickly grows tired; then again, WWE fans love to pay hundreds of dollars for the pleasure of participating in chants, so maybe they'll be even more over than they were a decade ago. 

I view Bill's departure as a bit of an indictment of Tony Khan's booking of big men. I was a fan of Big Bill - then known as W. Morrissey, the worst ring name of all time - during his solo push in TNA Wrestling several years ago, and I was excited to see him join AEW full-time; that being said, Khan did not utilize him as I hoped. 

I often talk about the benefits of diversity in pro wrestling, and I think AEW generally does a great job of offering it - except when it comes to the big fellas. AEW has the talent to put together a legitimate, hard-hitting division of big and/or strong guys who can beat the ever-living shit out of one another with just their bare hands.

AEW should be the place where you can regularly see bruisers beating the shit out of each other. It's a division that could've featured Big Bill along with Brody King, the Gates of Agony, Brian Cage, Bobby Lashley, Buddy Matthews, Claudio Castagnoli, Hechicero, Jake Doyle, Mark Davis, Josh Alexander, Shibata, Kyle O'Reilly, Lance Archer, Luchasaurus, and even smaller but hard-hitting guys like RUSH, Andrade, and Tomohiro Ishii. 

There's so much potential to make AEW the Big Man promotion, and it's something I hope Khan considers for the future. We do not need more lucha libre, Strong Style, and especially WWE influences featured throughout AEW programming; instead, let's see those hosses just beat the shit out of each other for 10 minutes. 

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