Will ‘The Ruler’ Face and Dethrone ‘The OTC’ to Become World Heavyweight Champion in 2026?
This past Monday Night Raw took place at the O2 Arena in London, England. One of the main event angles saw the King of the Ring Tournament finalists face off and cut promos on one another. Oba Femi stood head and shoulders above Jey Uso. ‘The Ruler’ displayed his microphone skills and oozed the confidence only a main event player is capable of. However, the former World Heavyweight Champion reminded Femi that, despite being counted out by nearly everyone in the past, he finds a way to pull off the unthinkable.
The most interesting part of the promo was when Uso fired his warning shot at Femi. ‘The Ruler’ responded by saying ‘Main Event Jey’ isn’t the cousin he’s worried about, and he said the former World Heavyweight Champion could take the bullets straight to his cousin as a message from ‘The Ruler’. This made it clear that Femi has his eyes set on dethroning Roman Reigns and taking his World Heavyweight Championship. The 28-year-old looked a lot stronger after the promo with Uso, leaving more speculation on who would end up becoming this year’s King of the Ring winner.
The only thing that complicates this inevitable bout is WWE’s supposed interest in the trilogy between Femi and Brock Lesnar. ‘The Ruler’ has been calling out Lesnar since their rematch at Clash in Italy. This was as recent as last week’s Raw after he annihilated Dominik Mysterio in their Semifinals King of the Ring Tournament bout. Both men currently have a win over each other, but ‘The Beast’ hasn’t been onscreen since his equalizing victory over Femi at Clash in Italy last month. The fact that the Nigerian keeps calling out his arch-nemesis has more fans thinking Lesnar is going to return when ‘The Ruler’ least expects it.
This begs the question of when Lesnar screws Femi over. Would that make more sense at Night of Champions this weekend or when ‘The Ruler’ takes on ‘The OTC’ for the World Heavyweight Championship? WWE head of creative, Triple H, is notorious for long-term storytelling. This storyline could follow a similar path and length to Cody Rhodes’s attempt to finish his story. That story took two full years to tell; it was full of unexpected events and controversy before Rhodes could finish it. Femi could follow a similar path, but he’s nothing like ‘The American Nightmare’. ‘The Ruler’ is a powerhouse that can move and talk like a world champion. He relies on winning convincingly, squashing those beneath him while selling for the top stars without looking weak. For a character of his stature and for a character written the way he has, there’s no reason to build up a struggle storyline. His only struggle should be with Lesnar, and that decision was controversial in itself. Lesnar was given the rub after eviscerating ‘The Rock’ at SummerSlam in 2002, becoming the youngest Undisputed WWE Champion at the time. ‘Rocky’ was about to head to Hollywood to pursue an acting career, and ‘The OTC’ has similar ambitions to his older cousin. Jacob Fatu’s current loyalty to his older cousin takes him out of the World Heavyweight Championship title hunt. This leaves ‘The Ruler’ as the next best threat to Reigns’s title. Reigns could give that unselfish rub to Femi to solidify the latter’s main event status. WWE has every reason to don ‘The Ruler’ with the big gold. It’s a matter of when, not if.
There are two likely outcomes based on all these angles. Femi and Reigns seem destined to face off at some point this year; that’s a given. If Lesnar doesn’t screw ‘The Ruler’ over at Night of Champions, ‘The Beast’ will absolutely screw Femi over when the latter faces ‘The OTC’ in their championship bout. This outcome would make it more likely that the Nigerian wrestler will win the big one in 2027, probably around next year’s Royal Rumble. Femi should win the big gold by next year’s WrestleMania; if not, WWE’s creative team would absolutely let ‘The Ruler’ down and ruin his meteoric run. If Lesnar screws the two-time NXT Champion over at Night of Champions, the former will likely win the big gold by the end of this year, around Survivor Series. Regardless of when it’ll happen, the six-foot-six wrestler will become the next WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
