Meet Royce Keys: WWE 'SmackDown's' newest 'monstar' looking to bring the pain

WWE's newest star Royce Keys details his debut with the company and future goals in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Royce Keys’ backstory has been well-chronicled as he made his way to "SmackDown."

The 6-foot-1, East Palo Alto, California, native started out grinding on the independent scene and worked his way up to All Elite Wrestling when his mother suffered a shocking fatal overdose in 2021. He kept pushing and kept working, knowing that his grandparents and the spirit of his mother was still with him as he made his WWE debut in 2026.

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Royce Keys looks on in the ring during WWE's Royal Rumble at Riyadh Season Stadium at KAFD in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Jan. 31, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)

"I like to say I was born to be a professional wrestler and born to be in this business as a sports entertainer," he told Fox News Digital. "So my grandparents moved from Mississippi to San Francisco, and they lived right across the street from the Cow Palace. … I grew up hearing about ‘High Chief’ Peter Maivia, Ray Stevens, Pat Patterson, Kenji Shibuya, Pepper Gomez and so ever since I can remember anything, wrestling was one of my first memories. It’s brought a lot of joy, happiness and success to my life."

Keys made his debut with the company as a surprise entrant in the men’s Royal Rumble match in Saudi Arabia. He eliminated one opponent before he was eliminated himself.

He said walking through the curtain was an experience like any other.

"For me, it was it was a huge test of new audience, new style, being so far away from home, I didn’t know what to expect. Probably one of the handful of times I’ve been nervous in my life," he recalled. "But once I