On Saturday, September 27th, WWE NXT returned to Fort Lauderdale, FL, at the FTL War Memorial for its big event, “No Mercy.” The event saw a ton of big moments and amazing matches, including Ricky Saints defeating Oba Femi to become the new NXT Champion, ending Femi’s dominant reign.
The main event of the show saw Oba Femi put his NXT Championship on the line against the newcomer, Ricky Saints. In the end, Saints lands four DDTs on Oba, including one on the announce table and one on the floor, to win the NXT Championship. This was a fantastic match, but everything good comes to an end. Now, with Femi officially being dethroned, a move to the main roster could be imminent.
Oba Femi Must Be Booked Strong Upon the WWE Main Roster Call-Up
WWE has something truly special in the Lago, Nigeria native. He officially held the NXT Championship for 263 days before dropping it to Saints. He was booked perfectly and has looked like a dominant powerhouse. Now, since he’s dethroned, we very well might see Femi on the main roster sooner rather than later.
Simply put, Femi is a force. As fans look towards his arrival on the main roster, it’s beyond important that Triple H book him with respect to his presentation in NXT. We can’t see him go down the same road Carmelo Hayes has gone down. He must go above and beyond because Femi is a talent that fans are ready to get behind in a major way.
Let’s reminisce about 2017. Asuka was riding a 510-day run as NXT Women’s Champion. WWE did the smart thing, allowing her to vacate the NXT Women’s Championship, keeping her undefeated, and moving her to the main roster. She was presented as an immediate danger to any and all women she came across on the roster as soon as she got there.
Femi should have a long, undefeated streak on the main roster upon being called up. The perfect way to call up “The Ruler” would be to have him answer one of Sami Zayn’s Open Challenges for the United States Championship, and defeat Zayn, winning the title. Similar to Gunther’s historic run as Intercontinental Champion, Femi should get similar treatment.
We have seen time and time again that NXT call-ups go to the main roster and do not work out. Unfortunately, Hayes has been the most recent one to get that treatment. But, it’s fair to say that guys like Karrion Kross, Keith Lee, Pretty Deadly, and EC3, even as well, all had their momentum from NXT stifled and the rug ripped from underneath them.
So, who is the longest reigning United States Champion? Dean Ambrose. Now, Jon Moxley, Ambrose had a reign that lasted 351 days. WWE would be more than happy to break that record with one of their biggest and greatest, up-and-coming homegrown talents around today, Femi.
Femi is the perfect man to do that and make the United States Championship mean something again. He can do what Gunther did for the Intercontinental Championship. A win over Zayn right away could establish Femi as a great force that will dominate the main roster for years to come.
WWE fans will be watching very closely to see how Triple H books Oba Femi when he reaches the main roster. His presentation on NXT has been special from the start. Now, the ball is in Triple H’s court. He has to do Shawn Michaels and NXT proud, and book arguably one of the biggest names to come out of the brand NXT in history in the most dominating way he can.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next time,
Scott Mitchell
You can follow me on Instagram (@Scott44Mitchell), X (@Scott44Mitchell), Facebook (Scott’s Scoop), & YouTube (Scott’s Scoop)
