While Triple H and WWE creative are no strangers to audience reaction, their recent booking of Oba Femi has drawn particularly intense outrage from fans.
Femi defeated Brock Lesnar badly at WrestleMania 42, which shows that a significant push is on the way. However, a month later at Clash in Italy, Lesnar easily defeated Femi to capture the title.
The 28-year-old was booked as the King of the Ring 2026 winner by defeating Jey Uso in the tournament finals at Night of Champions. The KOTR winner was supposed to be given a World Championship match at SummerSlam 2026, but instead Femi was booked for a rubber match and a Hell in a Cell bout with Lesnar.
But I am saying Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t wrestlinginc.com)Dave Meltzer said that Femi winning King of the Ring was part of WWE’s plan for a long-term main event push. However, it appears that WWE is waiting until WrestleMania 43 to give him a title match.
Meltzer said, “They wanted him to win King of the Ring and give him a big push after his loss to Brock and they felt they needed something really big, but they didn’t want to have a championship match until Mania.”
“But they wanted to put in your mind that this guy is in the championship picture and he’s a real top contender and when we get there, it’s not just a title match, but a special title match.”
As part of the storyline, Femi said that he passed on a title match for SummerSlam because Lesnar would have suffered the loss anyway. And so, the two legends will face each other for the last time at the marquee pay-per-view in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Confirmed matches for SummerSlam 2026
(Photo by Rich Frieda/WWE via Getty Images)
There are six confirmed matches for SummerSlam 2026: Lesnar vs. Fami for the WWE Championship, CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship, Liv Morgan vs. Iyo Sky for the Women’s World Championship, Penta vs. Chad Gable and Jacob Fatu for the Intercontinental Championship, Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso vs. Solo Sequoia, LA Knight and Royce Keys.
