Royce Keys made his long-awaited WWE television debut on “WWE SmackDown” from San Jose, California after WWE announced the match on social media with a video package on Thursday. Keys had last been seen on WWE programming when he entered the Royal Rumble match on January 31, but had been wrestling dark matches ahead of both “SmackDown” and “WWE Raw.” One of his dark match opponents was Berto, who he faced Friday night.
Berto slapped the former Powerhouse Hobbs across the head a few times as the bell rung, but Keys quickly overpowered him and knocked him down. He hit a big powerslam that had Berto writhing in pain. Berto rolled out of the ring to regroup with his tag team partner, Angle, but Keys followed. Berto sent him face-first into the ring post, but it didn’t keep the bigger man down for long.
Keys caught Berto mid-air as he attempted to jump from the ropes and hit a fallaway slam. Angel tried to distract the referee as Keys dominated the match, but he was knocked off the apron for his trouble. Keys hit a spinebuster to Berto for the victory, as commentary welcomed him home to the blue brand.
He was interviewed by Cathy Kelly backstage after the match. He said his debut was a long time coming and he was happy to debut in front of his people in the Bay area, around 20 minutes from where he grew up in East Palo Alto. He went face-to-face with Solo Sikoa, who welcomed him to the show, and said he was the one who runs things around “SmackDown.” He told Keys if he ever needed anything, his door was open.
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