When WWE introduced that Oba Femi can be within the 2026 King of the Ring, I assumed it was a mistake. Femi had simply come off a lopsided loss to Brock Lesnar at Conflict In Italy, so something in need of changing into King may derail “The Ruler’s” momentum.
As just lately as Wednesday, I reiterated that stance when a reader requested easy methods to hold Femi from wanting weak if he have been to lose the King of the Ring closing Saturday at Evening of Champions.
However on Thursday, I had a change of coronary heart after reporting that Jey Uso, Femi’s opponent in Saudi Arabia, was considered one of solely 5 WWE superstars whose photo-op and autograph classes at Fanatics Fest NYC in New York Metropolis had offered out.
In the meantime, packages for Femi, who’s additionally heading to the sports activities fan pageant within the Large Apple, had but to promote out, regardless of being greater than $50 cheaper than Uso’s. A minimum of he was in good firm, as packages for CM Punk, Seth Rollins, and LA Knight had additionally but to promote out.
Nonetheless, this stunned me.
Each week, reactions to Femi rival these of anybody on the roster, together with Uso. Followers chant his identify and mimic his strut as he involves the ring. At WrestleMania 42, they almost blew the roof off Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium when he tamed “The Beast” Brock Lesnar.
When Roman Reigns, recent off profitable the World Heavyweight Championship, sat in on the WrestleMania post-show, followers chanted “Oba.”
However are followers actually into him, or are they simply enamored along with his gimmick, which lets them be a part of the present and doubtlessly get noticed on Netflix by emulating his strut?
I requested myself that query as I attempted to know why followers in America’s largest market weren’t leaping on the likelihood to fulfill somebody poised to be the way forward for the corporate whereas the worth was nonetheless cheap.
After which I thought of Jey Uso and questioned what the distinction was.
The distinction? About 16 years of fairness.
Longtime followers have been on a journey with Jey Uso. Whether or not they’ve been down since “Day 1-ish” or not, many have seen him rise from a tag group wrestler along with his brother Jimmy Uso, who barely bought onto the pre-show of premium specials, to a solo act, fundamental eventer, and world champion. They adopted his emotional turmoil below the thumb of Roman Reigns earlier than he stood as much as the OTC.
Uso additionally developed a catchphrase and shtick that invite crowd interplay. Nevertheless it’s that fairness and star energy constructed over time that possible drives followers to pay huge bucks to fulfill him.
That is the definition of being over.
Femi, respectfully, isn’t there. But.
WWE may take an enormous gamble and hand over the keys to the dominion to Femi proper now. However in doing so, he may burn out like the person he decimated on wrestling’s greatest stage.
In 2002, WWE pushed Brock Lesnar to the moon. He scored dominant wins over Hulk Hogan, The Rock, and The Undertaker and gained the Undisputed WWE Championship.
Like Lesnar, Femi may transfer on to one thing else and return as a much bigger star.
Or possibly we by no means hear from him once more.
The opposite possibility is to position him in a state of affairs that exams the followers’ devotion and forces Femi to win them again by retooling his sport as Rocky Maivia and “The Large Canine” Roman Reigns needed to do to emerge as The Rock and the Tribal Chief.
One other risk is to ship him on the hero’s journey.
At WrestleMania 39, Cody Rhodes entered as a hero, solely to fail in his first try to develop into world champion. That failure solely endeared him extra to followers, resulting in his final success at WrestleMania XL.
Contemplating all that, it makes Saturday’s Evening of Champions that rather more compelling as a result of I genuinely don’t know what the fitting reply is. Ought to WWE push Oba Femi to the moon, just for him to burn out? Or does it put him by the hearth, hoping it forges metal?
If he loses, I count on an overbooked mess meant to attenuate the injury. However whatever the execution, all of a sudden, dropping doesn’t look like the worst factor that might occur to him.
