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Who Is Oba Femi? The WWE Star Explained
When it comes to the future of WWE, look no further than “The Ruler,” Oba Femi. The Nigerian-American WWE Superstar competes on WWE's Raw brand, and his rise through the company has been one of the more compelling origin stories in recent memory. He came up playing sports, becoming one of WWE’s first successes in its Next in Line program, and can now be seen battling with the Beast, Brock Lesnar.
For anyone trying to understand where WWE's next generation of stars is coming from, Femi’s career is worth following. This is everything you need to know about Oba Femi.
Oba Femi started out in Nigeria
Isaac Odugbesan was born on April 22, 1998, and grew up in Lagos before making the move to the United States, eventually landing at the University of Alabama. His athletic path ran through track and field during both his high school and college years, a discipline that built the physical foundation he'd later carry into professional wrestling.
Oba Femi is the first WWE NIL athlete to win a championship
When the NCAA opened the door for college athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness in 2021, WWE moved quickly to build a formal pipeline around that rule change. The program, called Next In Line, recruits athletes from across collegiate sports and brings them into WWE's orbit while they're still competing at the college level. Every partnership includes access to WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando, along with training in media, brand building, communications, and live event promotion. Finish the program strong enough, and a full WWE contract becomes a real possibility.
Odugbesan came into that pipeline as a decorated track athlete, having won three Southeastern Conference championships in shot put for Alabama. Femi soon took that win streak to WWE, becoming the first NIL athlete to win WWE gold.
Oba Femi dominated NXT
His NXT run made the case quickly. Femi won the 2023 NXT Men's Breakout Tournament shortly after arriving on the brand, a result that put the roster on notice before most fans had even learned his name. From there, the title reigns followed: he captured the NXT North American Championship, which he’s held on two occasions, one of them being the now second-longest reign (272 days) with the championship, thanks to Ethan Page.
Everyone imitates Oba Femi’s strut
One of the most iconic things about Oba Femi is his ring entrance. Femi admits that it’s an homage to Ric Flair, although it’s taken a life of its own; any time he’s making his way to the squared circle, everyone in attendance is mimicking his strut. Even Brock Lesnar imitated it before their recent Clash in Italy bout.
Oba Femi’s feud with Brock Lesnar
At the 2026 Royal Rumble, while Femi was not the one who eliminated Lesnar, Femi and Lesnar had a staredown that felt like a WrestleMania match in the making. The match eventually got make, with Femi not only getting the best of Lesnar on the Road to WrestleMania, but Femi defeated Lesnar, live on ESPN.
After Femi handed Lesnar a major loss on the Mania stage, he appeared to be retiring, leaving his boots and gloves in the ring. Femi started an Open Challenge, leaving him without competition until Lesnar returned and attacked Femi before challenging him to their eventual bout at Clash In Italy, which Lesnar won.
Femi fought two days later, winning his first King of the Ring tournament bout, cutting a promo on Lesnar that let him know that he may have been down, but he returns to kick ass.
There’s currently no word on if / when Lesnar and Femi may battle once more, but with SummerSlam hitting Minnesota this summer, fan wonder if Lesnar could be truly ending career this time in his home state.
If Femi can pull that off? Just give him the titles!
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