Bully Ray knows a thing or two about making money in professional wrestling. When the Hall of Famer recently talked about his massive excitement for a potential clash between Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi, people listened.
I'm As Excited For This WWE WrestleMania Match As I Am For Both Main Events
He stated he is just as excited for this non-title bout as he is for title match main events. He is not wrong. We are living in an era dominated by incredible technical wrestling, high-flying spots, and long-term soap opera storytelling.
All of that is fantastic. But you get a visceral, primitive thrill when two impossibly large humans decide to simply beat the hell out of each other.
The NXT Phenom
Oba Femi is not just big. He is functionally terrifying. His run in NXT has been an absolute masterclass in establishing a new monster.
He held the NXT North American Championship with an iron grip, defending it against all comers and styles. Whether he was throwing around high-flyers like Dragon Lee or going to war with fellow heavyweights like Ivar from The Viking Raiders, Femi adapted perfectly.
He showed he is not just a one-trick pony relying entirely on a size advantage. He understands ring positioning. He knows how to cut off the ring.
He knows exactly when to slow the pace down to a crawl to draw maximum heat from the crowd. Most importantly, his facial expressions tell a story.
He does not just look angry; he looks like a predator playing with his food. That psychological element is what separates a mid-card bruiser from a main event draw.
Think back to his matches with guys like Josh Briggs or Dijak. He did not just beat them; he dismantled them.
It is not just the squash matches against local talent that stand out. It is the way he moves in the ring. The sheer velocity he generates when hitting the ropes is frightening.
He bounds across the canvas with the speed of a middleweight but hits with the impact of a freight train. When he lifts an opponent for his powerbomb, it does not look like a choreographed wrestling move. It looks like an assault.
The Gatekeeper
But the main roster is an entirely different animal. And Brock Lesnar is the gatekeeper of that particular jungle.
Lesnar is in the twilight of his career, operating as a special attraction. He shows up, he suplexes people, he hits the F-5, and he leaves.
We saw at WrestleMania 39 against Omos that Lesnar can still work the big man dynamic perfectly, even when he is technically the smaller man in the ring. Against Omos, Lesnar had to sell. He had to bump around the ring.
He had to look vulnerable before finally hitting that massive F-5 to slay the giant. Oba Femi is a completely different problem than Omos.
Omos is exceptionally tall. Femi is thick, dense, and possesses explosive athletic power. You cannot just chop Femi down with leg kicks and expect him to stay there.
He will explode off the mat and take your head off with a lariat.
The Tactical Breakdown
How does this match actually look bell-to-bell? It cannot go long. Nobody wants to see Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi trading headlocks or working over a wristlock for twenty minutes.
This needs to be a five-to-eight-minute car crash. Think Lesnar versus Goldberg at WrestleMania 33 in Orlando. That match was perfect.
High impact, finishing moves attempted early, kicking out of everything, and zero downtime. Brock will likely shoot for the legs immediately.
He is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion. He knows he cannot just casually lock up with Femi and expect to win a test of strength easily.
Lesnar will try to ground the big man, aiming for a double-leg takedown to take away Femi's striking power. Femi’s defense will rely on his pure, raw power.
Expect sprawling, throwing heavy forearms to the back of Lesnar's neck, and maybe hitting a massive shoulder block to send Lesnar flying across the ring.
The key sequence of the entire match will be the German Suplex attempts. The crowd will be waiting on the edge of their seats to see if Brock can actually lift Femi.
Lesnar usually struggles on the first attempt against super-heavyweights. He sells the weight beautifully. He grabs his lower back, grimaces, and makes the opponent look like an immovable object.
If Femi blocks the first German Suplex, turns around, and hits a clothesline that takes Lesnar out of his boots, the building will shake. The sheer visual of Lesnar bumping big for the NXT call-up would be enough to make Femi a made man instantly.
The Booking Dilemma
Here is where we need to be realistic and a bit critical. WWE does not have a great track record with booking these kinds of matches without ruining someone's momentum entirely.
Look at Braun Strowman at No Mercy 2017. Strowman was the hottest thing in the entire company. He had spent months flipping ambulances, destroying the ring, and throwing Roman Reigns around like a ragdoll.
He stepped into the ring with Lesnar, took a single F-5, and got pinned clean in exactly 8 minutes and 52 seconds. It completely derailed Strowman for over a year.
The aura of invincibility vanished overnight. Look at Samoa Joe at Great Balls of Fire. A fantastic buildup, a great physical match where Joe genuinely looked like a threat, but ultimately, one F-5 ended the story abruptly.
If you put Oba Femi in the ring with Brock Lesnar right now, someone has to lose. If Femi loses cleanly in the middle of the ring, he becomes just another guy who failed to slay the dragon.
You strip away the invincibility he built down in Florida. You make him ordinary.
If Lesnar loses, well, Lesnar can certainly afford the loss at this stage of his career. But does the creative team want to use one of Lesnar's rare clean jobs on a rookie who is still finding his footing on the microphone?
There is a massive risk here. Booking two unstoppable forces means one is going to get stopped dead in their tracks. The creative team has a bad habit of sacrificing long-term equity for a short-term pop.
They cannot afford to make that mistake with Femi. He is far too valuable to the future of the company to be fed to The Beast just for a cheap highlight reel.
The Path to the Finish
If this match happens—whether it is at the upcoming WWE Backlash in May or a major summer stadium show—the finish has to protect the loser. A clean pinfall either way feels like a booking misstep.
What if they simply beat the hell out of each other until the referee throws the match out? A double count-out where they brawl through the barricade, over the announce table, and into the crowd?
It sounds like a cop-out, and fans usually hate non-finishes on premium live events. But sometimes you need a non-finish to preserve the money for a massive rematch down the road.
You give the fans a taste of the violence without giving away the definitive conclusion. Alternatively, if the company really wants to strap the proverbial rocket to Oba Femi, you have him dominate the encounter.
You have him hit the powerbomb. You have Lesnar miraculously kick out at 2.9 seconds. And then you have Femi immediately pick him up and hit it a second time.
Make it decisive. No cheap shots from a manager. No low blows while the referee is distracted. Pure, undeniable victory.
The Verdict
Bully Ray’s comments make total sense when you examine the current main roster. We are starved for genuine heavyweight attractions.
Roman Reigns is a generational storyteller who works a meticulous, psychological style. Cody Rhodes is the ultimate babyface champion who overcomes the odds through sheer willpower.
CM Punk is the master of ring psychology and verbal warfare. But sometimes, you do not want a deeply emotional story.
Sometimes, you just want to see two massive dudes hit each other as hard as mathematically possible. Oba Femi represents the future of heavyweight brawling.
Brock Lesnar is the ghost of its past, still haunting the main event scene and refusing to go quietly. When Femi hits the ropes, he moves with a violence that you cannot teach in the Performance Center.
Lesnar has made a two-decade career out of monetizing violence. This match feels inevitable. The money is too obvious to ignore, and the visual of these two standing face-to-face is poster material.
When they finally lock up, expect an immediate explosion of offense. I predict Lesnar will try to establish dominance early, charging forward and hitting a few stiff knees to the midsection.
Femi will absorb them, shake his head, and hit a massive spinebuster that shakes the ring canvas. The crowd will erupt.
Lesnar will roll to the outside, grinning that sadistic, toothy grin of his. He will realize instantly that he is in a legitimate dogfight.
Ultimately, I think WWE will play it safe with the booking. They will likely give Lesnar the win, probably via the Kimura Lock after a grueling, physical battle that takes a toll on both men.
The writers will want to protect Femi from taking a pinfall, so having him pass out from the pain in a submission hold is the easiest way out. It keeps his shoulders off the mat.
But even in defeat, Oba Femi will prove he belongs at the very top of the card. He will leave the ring with his stock significantly higher than when he entered it.
Bully Ray is absolutely right to be excited for this clash. We all should be.
