Oba Femi Forgoing SummerSlam Title Shot To Face Brock Lesnar Reportedly Always The Plan

Oba Femi was reportedly always planned to turn down his WWE world title shot.

At this past Saturday’s Night Of Champions Premium Live Event, Oba Femi was crowned King Of The Ring, earning a world championship opportunity of his choosing for SummerSlam. However, two days later on RAW, ‘The Ruler’ opted to forgo his guaranteed match to instead face Brock Lesnar inside Hell In A Cell when ‘The Biggest Party Of The Summer’ rolls around. With viewers questioning why the company would have Femi win a title shot only to turn it down, more has emerged on their thought process.

According to Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it’s believed WWE always planned to have Oba Femi win King Of The Ring but not use his title shot.

“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.”

-Dave Meltzer

Femi will go into his third match with Lesnar with a record of 1-1. After his stunning put down of ‘The Beast Incarnate’ at WrestleMania 42, the former WWE Champion able to even the score with his victory at Clash In Italy. Although it appeared Lesnar had retired at the ‘Show Of Shows’, many had speculated for months prior that SummerSlam in Minnesota would be his last stand. For now, whether that’s truly the case remains to be seen.

In the meantime, Seth Rollins stepped forward to challenge Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. While their history speaks for itself, ‘The Visionary’ himself lost in the opening round of the King Of The Ring, only adding to the frustration of many fans after the tournament dominated the vast majority of programming last month.

For more WWE news on the road to SummerSlam, you can click here.

As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on WWE’s plans for Oba Femi as soon as we hear more.