One thing that stood out to me over the last couple episodes of WWE Raw is there doesn’t seem to be a short-term creative direction for Oba Femi. He defeated Bronson Reed at Money in the Bank on Oct. 10, rejected Paul Heyman’s advances on the fallout episode of Raw, and now we’re waiting to see what’s next.
It’s just two episodes of doing nothing, but I figured WWE would want Femi to be part of the upcoming Crown Jewel PLE in Riyadh, considering rumors that he will be in the main event there against
Roman Reigns when WWE is back in Saudi Arabia next year for WrestleMania 43.
This got me looking at Oba’s match listings on CageMatch, and I noticed that WWE already seems to be booking The Ruler like a special attraction who rarely ever wrestles on weekly shows like Raw (or SmackDown).
Oba’s last Raw match on Netflix took place over three months ago (July 20) when he squashed JD McDonagh’s giant head in less than one minute. This was Oba’s only non-dark match of July. Femi’s only non-dark match in August was his Hell in a Cell victory over Brock Lesnar at the SummerSlam PLE. His only non-dark match in September was a disqualification win over Bron Breakker at Sunday Night’s Main Event. October is wrapping up in a couple days, and Femi’s only non-dark match of the month is his Money in the Bank PLE win over Reed.
Oba has wrestled plenty of dark matches in between, but WWE fans who are paying for Netflix, Peacock, and ESPN Unlimited have only seen him fight four times over the last four months. That might not seem too out of place if we’re talking about a longtime top star like Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, or CM Punk, but the 28-year-old Femi is still in his rookie year on the main roster.
Earlier this year, WWE tried to do a weekly open challenge with Femi that died out real quick, probably because it’s difficult to book the guy to steamroll everyone like Superman without burying most of the roster. Now we are on the opposite side of the coin where Oba is a special attraction who is apparently too good to wrestle on Raw on Netflix.
Do you think WWE is doing the smart thing by making sure Oba isn’t overexposed while they position him to be the next face of the company, or should he be a little more active than this on WWE’s flagship show?
Let me know your thoughts on Oba Femi’s booking in the comments below, Cagesiders.
