Royce Keys Reflects On ‘Rewarding’ Aspect of Working With Friends In WWE

Royce Keys has a number of old friends and allies that he’s working with in WWE, and he says it’s a very rewarding experience. The Smackdown star has history with a number of stars in WWE including Jacob Fatu, Solo Sikoa and Cody Rhodes, the latter of whom was a mentor to him in AEW.

Keys has spoken about how WWE was his dream, and he talked about what it means to be living that dream surrounded by people he knows with Josh Hennig for 973 ESPN. He also noted which brand he thinks he would have fit best in back when WWE Raw and Smackdown were in the “Brand War” era. You can see the highlights below:

On Where He Would Have Fit Best During the ‘Brand War’ Era:

“Oh, that’s a good question. I’ve never been asked that before. I think I would have been on that Blue Brand, you know? Because you know, you had a lot of a lot of up-and-comers on that brand who made a name for themselves. And it was that good old competition, one show tried to outdo the other. So me personally, I think I would fit on that blue brand, the current brand I’m on right now.”

On Working With His Friends In WWE:

“Man, it’s — you go to work with your partners, you know? You go to work to make things better, like it’s — I’m living my dream, and I’m doing it with people that I can compete with, you know? There’s no egos or anything like that. It’s good, healthy competition trying to outdo each other, but the people that helped you get there and were on the grind with you, and you’re at the same spot? That’s rewarding.

“How often does that happen? You’d work with your mentor every week. You struggle up and down the road with your partner, driving 150, 200 miles — even sometimes 400 miles to a show. Then [you] turn right back like Jacob and I did, having to work a 6 AM job. So, it’s great, man. It just lets you know that you surrounded yourself — you have a good circle of people.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Josh Hennig with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.