Oba Femi at all times believed he was a prime famous person. His titanic conflict with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 42 is his first main step in the direction of an excellent loftier purpose: changing into WWE’s youngest world champion in a decade.
Solely months after becoming a member of the WWE important roster, Femi will wrestle 10-time world champion Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. Even reserving the match is a Herculean feat for a famous person of their rookie 12 months on Uncooked or SmackDown, but it surely solely scratches the floor of what Femi units out to perform. The high-profile match is a credit score not solely to his potential but additionally to his self-perception.
“The important thing factor in such moments is to remind your self that you simply belong,” Femi informed CBS Sports activities on the WWE 2K26 occasion in Stamford final month. “Lots of people get known as up or get into the business, and so they see the highest guys as stars who’re greater than them. They nonetheless see themselves as followers. After some time, it’s important to eliminate that. It has to go.
“That has been out of the door with regards to me. As quickly as I signed my NXT contract, I used to be underneath the impression that these guys had been my equals. My heroes can be my rivals. I made {that a} assertion. I feel that got here to fruition after I stood throughout Brock on the Royal Rumble.”
Lesnar, 25 on the time, turned the youngest WWE champion in historical past after beating The Rock in 2002, who shared the report with Yokozuna earlier than Lesnar’s ascension. Skilled wrestling is a cyclical jungle. Lesnar now finds himself because the outdated lion, pressured to fend off a brand new apex predator.
“Legacy-wise, it’s going to be a terrific factor for me. I feel Brock is aware of there is a new child on the block,” Femi stated. “The outdated guard will at all times wish to cease the brand new guard from developing… It will be spectacular.”
WWE was present process a youth renaissance when Lesnar received his first WWE title. Randy Orton turned the youngest world champion at 24, and Cena received the title at 27, the primary of his report 17 world title reigns.
WWE’s prime male stars skew older today. The corporate’s two males’s world champions are each of their 40s. Not since Bray Wyatt in 2017 has a WWE famous person underneath 30 received a males’s world title.
However Femi, appropriately nicknamed “The Ruler,” leads the cost for one more cycle of change. Standing throughout from Lesnar, one among WWE’s all-time prime points of interest, alerts it. The notion of changing into the primary world champion underneath 30 in almost a decade is not a pipedream. It’s extremely a lot doable, and even doubtless, so far as the 28-year-old is worried.
“I feel the chances are very excessive,” Femi stated confidently. “The percentages are stacked in my favor. I am younger, I am spry, I am prepared and I am hungry. I am quite a bit hungrier than loads of these 47-year-olds, I will let you know that. I feel we’ll see that occur very quickly as a result of it is not simply me. It is Bron Breakker and Dominik Mysterio. There’s a lot occurring proper now with regards to younger expertise.”
It is easy to image Femi with a world title. The convenience with which he snapped up Lesnar and suspended him for a sit-down powerbomb highlighted his freakish energy. Requested which professional wrestling big, previous or current, he’d like to check himself towards, Femi rooted his alternative in actuality. It speaks to Femi’s ambition to overcome the business’s tallest mountains.
“Oba Femi vs. Omos could be a extremely good one,” Femi stated when proposing an enormous vs. big match followers may play in WWE 2K26. “First, it is doable. He is one of many giants who remains to be alive and with the corporate. Let’s make some cash.”