Roman Reigns isn’t ducking Oba Femi. He just doesn’t believe the King of the Ring has earned a match with him yet.
After weeks of speculation about a future showdown, Reigns finally addressed the possibility during an appearance on the Nightcap podcast at Fanatics Fest. While he had plenty of praise for Oba’s upside, he made it clear that potential alone isn’t enough to step into the ring with WWE’s biggest star.
“Well, look, I just said it. Oba’s very new and Oba’s got a lot of work to do.”
That wasn’t a shot at Oba as much as it was a reminder of what Reigns believes separates hype from proven greatness. Before the conversation turned to a possible match between them, Reigns actually explained why he’s so intrigued by Oba’s SummerSlam bout with Brock Lesnar. He said the reaction from fans tells him WWE has found something special by putting one of its most established attractions opposite someone who still hasn’t come close to reaching his ceiling.
“You have two guys, and this is kind of… it works perfectly when it’s this way. When you have a veteran and then you have a newer superstar who has that thing, that ‘it’ that we know, it’s just waiting to take off to the stratosphere. And that’s what we have in Oba. He’s still very new. He’s still a very… I wouldn’t say a shallow character because we just haven’t had him around enough to go into the depths of that character of Oba Femi and what that looks like.”
Then Reigns brought the conversation back to himself. Unlike Oba, he said, he doesn’t have anything left to prove. After more than a decade on top, he knows exactly who he is and what he’ll bring every single time he walks through the curtain.
“Me, you know, I’m as consistent and as tested as they come, so you already know what it is. I’m going to be there.”
For Reigns, the real question isn’t whether they’ll share a ring one day. It’s whether Oba can survive everything that’s waiting for him before he gets there.
“The question is, can Oba make it all the way through? Can he find his way through the wilderness and find his way to the championship destination?”
Oba Femi’s biggest test comes first. If he can get through Brock Lesnar inside Hell in a Cell at SummerSlam, the conversation around a future match with Roman Reigns is only going to get louder. Until then, Reigns has made his position clear: the door is open, but Oba still has to earn the right to walk through it.
Do you think Oba Femi is ready for Roman Reigns, or does he still have more to prove? Sound off in the comments below.
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