When WWE announced that Oba Femi would be in the 2026 King of the Ring, I thought it was a mistake. Femi had just come off a lopsided loss to Brock Lesnar at Clash In Italy, so anything short of becoming King could derail “The Ruler’s” momentum.
As recently as Wednesday, I reiterated that stance when a reader asked how to keep Femi from looking weak if he were to lose the King of the Ring final Saturday at Night of Champions.
But on Thursday, I had a change of heart after reporting that Jey Uso, Femi’s
opponent in Saudi Arabia, was one of only five WWE superstars whose photo-op and autograph sessions at Fanatics Fest NYC in New York City had sold out.
Meanwhile, packages for Femi, who’s also heading to the sports fan festival in the Big Apple, had yet to sell out, despite being more than $50 cheaper than Uso’s. At least he was in good company, as packages for CM Punk, Seth Rollins, and LA Knight had also yet to sell out.
Still, this surprised me.
Every week, reactions to Femi rival those of anyone on the roster, including Uso. Fans chant his name and mimic his strut as he comes to the ring. At WrestleMania 42, they nearly blew the roof off Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium when he tamed “The Beast” Brock Lesnar.
When Roman Reigns, fresh off winning the World Heavyweight Championship, sat in on the WrestleMania post-show, fans chanted “Oba.”
But are fans really into him, or are they just enamored with his gimmick, which lets them be part of the show and potentially get spotted on Netflix by emulating his strut?
I asked myself that question as I tried to understand why fans in America’s largest market weren’t jumping at the chance to meet someone poised to be the future of the company while the price was still reasonable.
And then I thought about Jey Uso and wondered what the difference was.
The difference? About 16 years of equity.
Longtime fans have been on a ride with Jey Uso. Whether they’ve been down since “Day 1-ish” or not, many have seen him rise from a tag team wrestler with his brother Jimmy Uso, who barely got onto the pre-show of premium specials, to a solo act, main eventer, and world champion. They followed his emotional turmoil under the thumb of Roman Reigns before he stood up to the OTC.
Uso also developed a catchphrase and shtick that invite crowd interaction. But it’s that equity and star power built over time that likely drives fans to pay big bucks to meet him.
That is the definition of being over.
Femi, respectfully, isn’t there. Yet.
WWE could take a huge gamble and hand over the keys to the kingdom to Femi right now. But in doing so, he could burn out like the man he decimated on wrestling’s biggest stage.
In 2002, WWE pushed Brock Lesnar to the moon. He scored dominant wins over Hulk Hogan, The Rock, and The Undertaker and won the Undisputed WWE Championship.
By 2004, he was gone.
Like Lesnar, Femi could move on to something else and return as a bigger star.
Or maybe we never hear from him again.
The other option is to place him in a situation that tests the fans’ devotion and forces Femi to win them back by retooling his game as Rocky Maivia and “The Big Dog” Roman Reigns had to do to emerge as The Rock and the Tribal Chief.
Another possibility is to send him on the hero’s journey.
At WrestleMania 39, Cody Rhodes entered as a hero, only to fail in his first attempt to become world champion. That failure only endeared him more to fans, leading to his ultimate success at WrestleMania XL.
Considering all that, it makes Saturday’s Night of Champions that much more compelling because I genuinely don’t know what the right answer is. Should WWE push Oba Femi to the moon, only for him to burn out? Or does it put him through the fire, hoping it forges steel?
If he loses, I expect an overbooked mess meant to minimize the damage. But regardless of the execution, suddenly, losing doesn’t seem like the worst thing that could happen to him.
