New details have emerged regarding WWE’s decision to have Oba Femi step away from the World Championship opportunity he earned by winning the King of the Ring tournament.
According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the move was part of WWE’s plan from the beginning. Femi’s victory in the tournament was designed to elevate him, but not to immediately lead into a title match against Roman Reigns at SummerSlam.
Oba Femi SummerSlam Title Shot Decision
Meltzer reported that WWE’s long-term goal is to build toward a larger match between Femi and Reigns at a later date. The idea is to maximize the impact of that bout rather than rushing into it. While WrestleMania is seen as a possible destination, that has not been confirmed.
The decision was always for Femi to win King of the Ring but turn down his title shot at Reigns for a match with Lesnar. The idea was to create Reigns vs. Femi as the biggest match possible. I can’t say with certainty that means save it for WrestleMania, but my thought going in was that why should he win a shot at Reigns for SummerSlam when it’s too soon and needs more of a chase, and I don’t think his losing the first time to Reigns is the right idea. Of course it did work for Cody Rhodes in the long-run. But each person is different. What works for Rhodes would work for Will Ospreay but failed to work for Lex Luger and wouldn’t have worked for Bill Goldberg. Femi is closer to a Goldberg. But SummerSlam was too early.
Instead of facing Reigns, Femi will meet Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam in a Hell in a Cell match. Their rivalry currently stands at one win each, making the upcoming bout a deciding match in their series.
As it turns out, Lesnar vs Femi, which at least based on YouTube numbers and crowd reactions is the hottest program in the company, is now in a Hell in a Cell match. The only ending that would make sense in this one is Femi winning, although with a fan base that doesn’t really care about wins and losses, it probably won’t hurt him to lose. Still, I can’t see an upside in Lesnar winning. His winning the last one was clearly to set up this one.
SummerSlam will take place at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on August 1 and 2, with Femi vs. Lesnar and Reigns vs. Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship positioned as two of the top matches on the card.
At Night of Champions, Femi secured his King of the Ring victory by defeating Jey Uso in the finals. Although the tournament traditionally grants a SummerSlam title opportunity, WWE followed up with an angle on RAW where Femi chose a different path.
“The title is always going to be there,” Femi said. “The championships are not going anywhere. I’ll take that when I want it.”
The decision keeps Femi away from the title scene for now while continuing to build him as a major attraction for a future showdown with Reigns.
Backstage News On Why Oba Femi Gave Up SummerSlam Title Shot
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