Jonathan Coachman is pushing back against the fan backlash surrounding Brock Lesnar’s victory over Oba Femi at WWE Clash in Italy.
Lesnar defeated Femi in a hard-hitting bout at the Inalpi Arena in Turin, Italy, evening their rivalry after Femi scored a major win over The Beast at WrestleMania 42. While many fans blasted WWE for handing one of its fastest-rising stars a loss, Coachman believes the company actually did a great job protecting Femi in defeat.
Speaking on 2 Count Tuesday, Coachman argued that the match showed exactly how to book a young star in a losing effort. He pointed to the fact that Lesnar needed multiple F5s to finally put Femi away.
“We talk about all the time, JD, how you protect a big-time talent even when they’re not going to win. It drives me insane when the creative says, ‘Well, this guy can’t lose.’
Well, how they had him lose was an absolute mountain that he had to climb over, meaning Brock to beat Oba. It wasn’t one, it wasn’t two, it was like seven of those F5s and he just kept—and nobody ever kicks out of an F5 ever.”
Coachman also believes fans are overlooking who Femi lost to. In his view, losing to Brock Lesnar is far different from losing to an ordinary opponent, especially when the match was presented as a war from start to finish.
“But you also got to remember, I think fans at home forget who Brock Lesnar is. They just see the L. They just see the loss. But Brock Lesnar is maybe the most dangerous human being of all time in the WWE. So I don’t give a damn—at 48 years old in the storyline of things. JD, Oba is a young cat. Young cats can make mistakes even if they are mountain of men too.”
While social media was filled with complaints that WWE cooled off Oba Femi’s momentum, Coachman sees the result as the beginning of a bigger story. He said the loss gives Femi something to overcome as the rivalry continues.
“And so now as we head into it, he’s got to figure out what do I have to do differently to beat the beast. And so the way they booked him, I agree with you, was beautiful. Losing in pro wrestling is not the end of the world. How you lose is so important.”
Coachman then made his biggest point of all, arguing that Femi’s first loss may actually benefit him moving forward. According to Coachman, WWE no longer has to worry about protecting an undefeated streak, allowing the company to tell more realistic stories with the Ruler.
“The most important fact that I don’t think fans are really taking into consideration is Oba lost. That shackle now, that albatross is off of him. They don’t have to worry about that because if they continued him without a loss, it would only be about, ‘Well, who is he going to lose to? When is he going to lose?’
Now that they got that out of the way, they should not be afraid of making him lose anymore because the way that they booked him, they clearly know how to do it. So just continue doing that from this point on.”
Whether fans agree or not, WWE now has a ready-made story if it decides to book a third match. Lesnar and Femi are tied at one win each, and a rubber match could settle the score while giving Oba the chance to prove he has finally figured out how to slay The Beast, especially after the Ruler specifically called out Brock Lesnar after advancing in the King of the Ring tournament.
Do you agree with Jonathan Coachman that Oba Femi was protected in defeat, or do you think WWE made the wrong call by having Brock Lesnar win? Drop your thoughts below and let us know.
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