Royce Keys made a major return on the August 24 Monday Night RAW in Ottawa, Ontario, and he didn’t come back alone. Keys joined OTM, the tag team of Bronco Nima and Lucien Price, and the trio laid waste to The Usos, Solo Sikoa, and LA Knight to close the show.
During the main event, Keys sent Jey Uso and Sikoa crashing through the barricade. Nima and Price then jumped Jimmy Uso and Knight, and the newly formed trio stood tall as RAW went off the air. The segment also served as OTM’s official main roster debut.
The alliance wasn’t thrown together on the day of the show. According to False Finish, WWE had been developing the idea for several weeks.
Speaking on a recent Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer compared WWE’s approach to past faction debuts like The Shield and Nexus, suggesting the company likely wants to turn Keys, Nima, and Price into top stars.
“It was very much the playbook of what they do every couple years. You know, the same thing with the Shield when they debuted them and the Nexus, and there’s been many others where, you know, you bring in—it’s always big guys—and they destroy everyone.
And, you know, sometimes, like with the Shield, it paid off and they became giant stars, and obviously that’s probably the idea here.”
Keys had been off television since August 3, when Jacob Fatu defeated and brutalized him in a Street Fight. Two days prior, at SummerSlam, Keys teamed with Sikoa and Knight to defeat Fatu and The Usos.
Nima and Price have teamed since 2022 and worked their first televised match that same year. Keys had also been on the rise since April, when he won the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal.