WWE Dropped Major Title Plans Involving Oba Femi

There was a plan for Oba Femi to drop the WWE NXT Title to another wrestler, but it didn’t materialize.

Oba Femi is one of the greatest NXT Champions in the history of WWE’s developmental brand. Femi’s first reign lasted 262 days, and his second reign was 31 days, but nobody beat him for the title during that second reign.

After successfully defending the NXT Title at New Year’s Evil on January 6th, Oba Femi left the championship in the ring as a sign that he was ready to move on to the WWE main roster.

Femi wasn’t the only NXT regular to move to the main roster because Trick Williams, Je’Von Evans, and Jordynne Grace were among the others who got the call to join the main roster in early 2026.

Evans challenged Femi and Williams for the NXT Title on multiple occasions and has come close to winning a few times, but he has been unable to win the gold. Regular NXT viewers likely thought that Evans would be a guy who could beat Femi for the NXT Title, but it obviously didn’t happen.

In a post on X, Cory Hays of Bodyslam noted that there was a plan in place for Je’Von Evans to beat Oba Femi for the NXT Title.

“Je’Von was going to dethrone Oba before the main roster came calling.”

Shawn Michaels, the WWE Hall of Famer who runs NXT creatively, said as much in a recent interview, talking about how he wanted to keep Evans in NXT for another six months.

“Certainly, Je’Von obviously was somebody I had—you know, we—you know, I was begging for like, ‘Can we keep him for another six months?’ if not, you know, because we had every intention—he was kind of one of the last ones that they—you know—they were like, ‘Oh.’ I mean, because we, you know, from an NXT standpoint, we were in our minds going to obviously build around Je’Von for the next year, and that was kind of the model.”

“And they’re like, ‘Oh no, no, no. We’re taking him, too.’ Like, ‘Oh, oh,’ you know, and I pushed back a little bit, you know, and was like, ‘You know, should we—just six months?’ Like, ‘No.’ And like three? Like, ‘No.’ And I’m like, ‘All right, so fair enough.’”

Oba Femi’s WrestleMania Debut Will Be Against Brock Lesnar

The good news for former NXTers Femi, Williams and Evans is that all of them will be in big matches at WrestleMania 42.

After recently getting the upper hand on Lesnar during a segment on Raw, Oba Femi issued this chilling warning to his WrestleMania opponent.

“The real ruler is here. The conqueror of conquerors is here. The one that beats the one is here. Nobody can stop me. There is nobody like me. No man on earth can touch me.”

The Oba Femi-Brock Lesnar match will take place at WrestleMania 42 on Sunday, April 19th, and it’s expected to open night two. The match will also air for free on ESPN, as well as on ESPN+ in the US and on Netflix worldwide. The WrestleMania 42 lineup is below.

Saturday, April 18 Matches

• WWE Undisputed Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Randy Orton
• WWE Women’s World Championship: Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. Liv Morgan
• Seth Rollins vs. Gunther
• Women’s Intercontinental Championship: AJ Lee (c) vs. Becky Lynch
• Women’s Tag Team Championships: Irresistible Forces – Nia Jax & Lash Legend (c) vs. Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. The Bella Twins – Nikki & Brie Bella vs. Bayley & Lyra Valkyria
• Unsanctioned Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Jacob Fatu (Match Will Also Air On ESPN 2 In First Hour)
• LA Knight and The Usos – Jimmy & Jey Uso vs. The Vision – Logan Paul & Austin Theory and IShowSpeed (Match Will Also Air On ESPN 2 In First Hour)

Sunday, April 19 Matches

• WWE World Heavyweight Championship: CM Punk (c) vs. Roman Reigns
• WWE Women’s Championship: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Rhea Ripley
• United States Championship: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Trick Williams
• “Demon” Finn Balor vs. Dominik Mysterio
• Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: Penta (c) vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Dragon Lee vs. Rusev vs. JD McDonagh vs. Rey Mysterio (Match Will Also Air On ESPN In First Hour)
• Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar (Match Will Also Air On ESPN In First Hour)

WrestleMania 42 will STREAM LIVE Saturday, April 18, and Sunday, April 19, 2026, at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT on ESPN in the United States and Netflix everywhere else.