Royce Keys Was Nervous Before WWE Royal Rumble Debut, Talks Title Aspirations

Royce Keys recently reflected on his WWE Royal Rumble debut and why it was one of the few moments he’s been nervous in his life. The WWE star made his debut at this year’s Royal Rumble in the men’s Rumble match. It was a highly-anticipated arrival and a major test for Keys, who spoke about the moment with Fox News Digital.

Keys also spoke about being a lifelong wrestling fan and his goals now that he’s officially on the Smackdown roster. You can see highlights below:

On Growing Up a Wrestling Fan:

“I like to say I was born to be a professional wrestler and born to be in this business as a sports entertainer. 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.”

On His Royal Rumble Debut:

“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. But once I got to walk down that aisle, everything felt so natural, getting in the ring and just being there. All eyes on me so. It was definitely rewarding. You ever get that feeling like you were meant to do something? I had that feeling then.”

On What He Brings To WWE:

“I think intensity, intimidation, fear, you know, when I am in the ring, I tend to get straight to the point. I believe the certain things I do in the ring, not only to the people in the arenas kinda go, ‘Ohh,’ they feel it but people at home feel that as well through their TV screens. It’s just a lot of domination. I think my life, everything that I’ve been through in my life has set me up for this point and I intend to be that monster, or I like to say, as we say in the hood, I’d like to be that ‘monstar’ that’s going to change, help or elevate the game.”

On Possibly Targeting The United States Or Undisputed WWE Title:

“I think all of the above. I have one motto that I’ve been living by since I was a kid and that was being taught by the OGs and a lot of the guys out here (in the Bay Area) – I take everything I want. Anything I want to take or I see, I’m gonna take it whether it’s championships, or whether it’s hurting people, whether it’s dominating the ‘SmackDown’ brand and dominating who else wants to come over, going to another brand and dominating over there. My life has put me in this position and everything that I’ve went through in my life has put me to this point and I don’t think there’s anybody that could stop me.”