News

Oba Femi Reveals His Inspiring Goal In WWE

By John Canton • Published Jan 05, 2026 17:30 EST
Oba Femi WWE NXT Champion

Oba Femi had big dreams when he was younger, and he plans to keep living that dream in WWE.

The 2-time and current WWE NXT Champion Oba Femi is a mountain of a man who can move around the ring unbelievably well for somebody who weighs about 300 pounds.

At just 27 years old and with about four years of pro wrestling experience, “The Ruler” has proven he can hang with the best, just like he did with WWE Champion Cody Rhodes at Saturday Night’s Main Event last month.

WWE discovered Femi as a talented shot putter at the University of Alabama. WWE signed him to an NIL deal, and after graduating, he pursued his WWE dreams.

When Femi spoke about BBC Sport about his journey that led to his WWE career, The Ruler said he wants to inspire people to dream big, just like he did.

“I grew up a fan, and I was like man, I would kill to be a wrestler, you know? But, it just didn’t feel plausible. Like, I mean, Africa is run out of the United States. They don’t even really come to Africa for live events.

You know, like, you start telling yourself all these things, and my goal is not necessarily to, make young kids come and wrestle. Like, that’s not the goal, but my goal is more to let them know that you can dream big and it’s okay and it’s possible.”

Oba Femi Defending NXT Title At New Year’s Evil

In the same interview with BBC Sport, Oba Femi spoke about developing the character that we see in NXT today.

“That’s just what comes with the territory of building a character. A lot of people go out there and pretend to be wrestlers and pretend to be, you know, something they’re not. But for me, it’s like, how much of a human being can I put into this one character? Let me have that natural cadence of a Nigerian man.

Like, what does a Nigerian man who is like, you know, egotistical, poised and all that, you know, how does he fit into the wrestling meta? I think I’ve been able to figure that out.”

Regarding his WWE future, there was a report that some NXT wrestlers, like Oba Femi, could be joining the main roster soon because of how impressive they were at the Saturday Night’s Main Event show that also served as John Cena’s retirement night.

Femi has been featured in video packages on Raw and SmackDown in recent weeks, but there’s no indication as to when his WWE main roster debut will happen.

Up next for Oba Femi is a big NXT Title defense at the January 6th New Year’s Evil event when he defends the gold against TNA’s X-Division Champion, Leon Slater. The card is below.

* Tatum Paxley vs. Izzi Dame

* NXT Women’s Championship: Jacy Jayne vs. Kendal Grey

* NXT Women’s North American Championship: Thea Hail vs. Blake Monroe

* NXT Championship: Oba Femi vs. Leon Slater

H/T Fightful