Early career (2009–2020) Hobson attended the
All Pro Wrestling (APW)
professional wrestling school in
Hayward, California. He made his professional wrestling debut on July 18, 2009, at APW's "Gym Wars" event under the ring name "Will Rood". Hobson wrestled for APW over the following decade, during which time he held the
APW Worldwide Internet Championship three times. He also held the
APW Tag Team Championship thrice, teaming with Marcus Lewis as "Lion Power". In 2014 he briefly used the ring name "Will.I.IS"; in 2016 he changed his ring name to "Will Hobbs". Between 2011 and 2020 Hobson also appeared with multiple
independent promotions, principally in the
San Francisco Bay Area. These included
Championship Wrestling from Hollywood (where he held the
UWN Tag Team Championship with Damien Grundy as "Cold Cold War"), Gold Rush Pro Wrestling (where he held the GRPW Dynamite Division Championship), and Pro Championship Wrestling (where he held the PCW Tag Team Championship with Mitch Valentine as the "Dream Team"). In 2016, Hobson had a try-out with
WWE, losing to
Baron Corbin in a
dark match in the
SAP Center in
San Jose, California. Hobson also attended the
WWE Performance Center, where he took part in a
promo class. Hobson was ultimately not offered a contract with WWE.
All Elite Wrestling (2020–2026) Team Taz (2020–2022) In July 2020, Hobson began to work for
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as "Will Hobbs", wrestling on its
YouTube show
AEW Dark. On September 5, 2020, Hobbs competed in a 21-man
Casino Battle Royale at the
All Out pay-per-view, which was won by
Lance Archer. His performance in the match impressed AEW president
Tony Khan, and he was signed to a contract with AEW. On the September 16, 2020 episode of
Dynamite, Hobbs saved
AEW World Champion Jon Moxley from an attack by
Brian Cage and
Ricky Starks. On the October 7 episode of
Dynamite, Hobbs unsuccessfully challenged Cage for the
FTW Championship. On the November 18 episode of
Dynamite, Hobbs
turned heel by aligning himself with
Team Taz (
Taz, Brian Cage, and Ricky Starks), joining them in an attack on
Cody Rhodes and
Darby Allin. Later that month, his ring name was tweaked to "Powerhouse Hobbs". At the December 2, 2020 television special
Winter Is Coming, Hobbs and Starks lost to Rhodes and Allin. Throughout early 2021, Hobbs scored a series of singles and tag team victories on episodes of
AEW Dark and
AEW Dark: Elevation. At the
Double or Nothing pay-per-view in May 2021, Hobbs competed in a
Casino Battle Royale that was won by
Jungle Boy. On July 14, 2021, on the
Fyter Fest television special, Hobbs aided stablemate Ricky Starks in an FTW Championship victory over Brian Cage, thus expelling Cage from Team Taz; Hobbs went on to defeat Cage on the September 1 episode of
Dynamite. On the September 15, 2021 episode of
Dynamite, Team Taz attacked
CM Punk while he was on commentary, resulting in a match between Hobbs and Punk at the
AEW Grand Slam television special (Punk's first televised match in over seven years), which was won by Punk. For the remainder of the year, Hobbs wrestled primarily on
AEW Dark. In March 2022 at
Revolution, Hobbs competed in a
Face of the Revolution ladder match that was won by
Wardlow. Throughout mid-2022, he largely competed in tag team matches alongside Starks; at
Double or Nothing in May 2022 they unsuccessfully challenged
Jurassic Express for the
AEW World Tag Team Championship in a
triple threat match that also featured
Keith Lee and
Swerve Strickland. At
Dynamite: Fight for the Fallen on July 27, 2022, Hobbs turned on Starks after Starks lost the
FTW Championship, delivering a
clothesline to the back of Starks' neck followed by a
spinebuster. The following week, Taz disbanded Team Taz. At
All Out in September 2022, Hobbs defeated Starks; later that month, on
Grand Slam, Starks defeated Hobbs in a
lights out match.
Various feuds (2022–2025) At
Full Gear in November 2022, Hobbs faced
Samoa Joe and
Wardlow in a
three-way dance for the
AEW TNT Championship that was won by Samoa Joe. In March 2023, Hobbs won a Face of the Revolution ladder match, giving him a shot at the TNT Championship. On the following episode of
Dynamite, Hobbs (with assistance from
Q. T. Marshall) defeated Wardlow in a
falls count anywhere match to win the TNT Championship. Hobbs subsequently joined Marshall's "QTV" stable. On the April 19, 2023 episode of
Dynamite, Wardlow defeated Hobbs to regain the TNT Championship. In July 2023, Hobbs left QTV. In July 2023, Hobbs competed in the
Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, defeating
Dustin Rhodes in the quarter-finals before losing to Ricky Starks in the semi-finals of the tournament. At
All Out in September 2023, Hobbs lost to
Miro. In October 2023, Hobbs joined the
Don Callis Family, attacking
Chris Jericho and
Kenny Omega. In November 2023, the Don Callis Family (Hobbs,
Konosuke Takeshita, and
Kyle Fletcher) and
Brian Cage lost to Jericho, Omega,
Kota Ibushi, and
Paul Wight in a
street fight. At
Worlds End the following month, Hobbs, Takeshita,
Big Bill and Ricky Starks lost to Jericho,
Darby Allin,
Sammy Guevara, and
Sting. On the April 24, 2024 episode of
Dynamite, Hobbs unsuccessfully challenged
Jon Moxley for the
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Hobbs sustained a knee injury during the match that required surgery. On the November 6, 2024, episode of
Dynamite, Hobbs returned as a mystery partner for
Ricochet, defeating Konosuke Takeshita and Kyle Fletcher, turning
face and ending his tenure with the Don Callis Family. On December 28 at
Worlds End, Hobbs unsuccessfully challenged Takeshita for the
AEW International Championship. On the January 8, 2025 episode of
Dynamite, Hobbs won a
Casino Gauntlet match to earn a match against Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship, but failed to win the title the following week at
Dynamite: Maximum Carnage. After losing to Moxley, Hobbs began a feud with
Big Bill of
The Learning Tree. On the February 19 episode of
Dynamite, Hobbs defeated Bill in a
street fight.
The Opps; departure (2025–2026) (left) and
Samoa Joe (center) as The Opps, as
AEW World Trios Champions in July 2025 at
All In: Texas In April 2025 at
Dynamite: Spring BreakThru, Hobbs (substituting for the injured
Hook) teamed with The Opps (
Katsuyori Shibata and
Samoa Joe) to defeat the
Death Riders for the
AEW World Trios Championship. The next night at
Collision: Spring BreakThru, Hobbs was inducted as a member of The Opps. On May 25 at
Double or Nothing, The Opps teamed with
Kenny Omega,
Swerve Strickland, and
Willow Nightingale to defeat the
Death Riders and
The Young Bucks in an
Anarchy in the Arena match. On July 12 at
All In: Texas, The Opps successfully defended their titles against the Death Riders and
Gabe Kidd. On August 24 at
Forbidden Door Zero Hour, The Opps successfully defended their titles against
Bullet Club War Dogs. On October 18 at
WrestleDream, The Opps attacked
"Hangman" Adam Page after Joe failed to defeat Page for the AEW World Championship, turning heel in the process. On January 14, 2026 taping of
Collision: Maximum Carnage, the Opps lost the AEW World Trios Championship to Page and
JetSpeed in a bout which aired on
tape delay on January 17. This was Hobbs' final AEW appearance as his contract expired on January 15 and he elected not to re-sign, ending his near six-year tenure with AEW.
WWE (2026–present) Immediately after departing AEW, Hobson signed a contract with
WWE. On January 31, 2026 at the
Royal Rumble, Hobson – wrestling under the ring name "Royce Keys" – entered the
Royal Rumble match at #14 and went on to eliminate
Damian Priest, before being eliminated by
Bronson Reed. After mainly performing in
dark matches in February, March, and early April, Keys made his
WWE SmackDown debut on April 10, defeating
Berto in a
squash match and was later assigned to the
SmackDown brand. On the April 17 episode of
SmackDown, he won the
André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal by last eliminating
Talla Tonga. == Professional wrestling style and persona ==