The fading art of the monster push

WWE is currently attempting to build its next generation of main eventers from the absolute ground up. The Miz wasn't mincing words this past week when he pointed directly to Oba Femi, Trick Williams, and Je'von Evans and declared them the "next big things" in professional wrestling. He is absolutely correct. These three athletes represent the physical, charismatic, and athletic future of the company.

But having generational talent on the roster is only half the battle. How a creative team books that talent determines whether they become a massive box office draw or a frustrating cautionary tale. Right now, looking at the diverging paths of Trick Williams on SmackDown and Oba Femi on Monday Night Raw, we are witnessing a masterclass in how to build a champion. Unfortunately, we are also watching a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes a monster compelling.

Trick Williams is doing everything right

Let's start with the massive success story playing out on Friday nights. Trick Williams is currently the hottest property on SmackDown. His trajectory over the last few months has been nothing short of spectacular.

Originally, the creative winds seemed to be blowing toward a deeply personal, blood-feud showdown between Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams at WrestleMania. Former friends turned bitter rivals. It was the easy, obvious story to tell. But WWE pivoted. Trick ended up challenging Sami Zayn for the United States Championship instead.

That booking decision changed his entire career trajectory.

By defeating a beloved, established veteran like Sami Zayn on the grandest stage, Trick wasn't just settling a personal score. He was arriving as a legitimate, top-tier competitor. He seized the United States Championship and immediately shifted the temperature of the blue brand.

Trick recently stated he wants to bring SmackDown to new heights. "We're gonna lift the stakes," he promised. He is backing up every single word. He is crossing over into mainstream culture in a way we haven't seen in years.

When rapper Lil Yachty is publicly talking about how much he loves the business and how Trick gets him fired up, you know you have captured lightning in a bottle. South Carolina even declared May 12 as "Trick Williams Day". That isn't just standard wrestling popularity. That is genuine cultural relevance.

The difference between Trick and Oba isn't physical tools. It is the emotional connection with the live audience. When Trick hit the ring against Sami Zayn at WrestleMania, the stadium was literally shaking. The fans were desperate for him to win. They felt every single near-fall.

Why does Trick's push work so seamlessly? Because he shows absolute vulnerability inside the ring. Trick is incredibly athletic, but he constantly fights from underneath. He sells the damage to his legs. He sells the exhaustion. When he finally hits that explosive running knee, it feels like a desperate, earned knockout blow rather than a scripted finisher. Fans invest in his matches because they actually believe he might lose.

The Oba Femi problem on Monday Night Raw

Then we flip over to Monday Night Raw. Oba Femi is currently trapped in the most sterile, uninspired booking trope in modern wrestling history. He is stuck doing a weekly dominant open challenge.

Oba is a terrifying physical anomaly. He possesses a freakish blend of raw power and surprising agility. He looks like he could rip a steel chair in half without breaking a single drop of sweat. Following his massive, statement-making victory at WrestleMania, the sky should be the absolute limit.

Instead, WWE has saddled him with an open challenge that is actively draining his momentum week by week. Bully Ray recently voiced his deep frustrations regarding Oba's current presentation, and the Hall of Famer hit the nail directly on the head. This open challenge simply isn't working for anybody involved.

Bully Ray understands this business better than almost anyone breathing. When he speaks out against a booking decision, the creative team should be taking notes. Bully correctly identified that an open challenge only draws money when there is actual, believable jeopardy. If you strip away the jeopardy, you are just left with a hollow athletic exhibition.

The absolute failure of the squash match

To understand why this is failing, we have to look at what an open challenge is actually supposed to accomplish. When executed correctly, an open challenge creates spontaneous, unpredictable television. It gives underutilized midcard talent a chance to shine and forces the champion to adapt to wildly different styles on the fly.

Oba Femi's open challenge does exactly none of that. It is merely a lazy vehicle for extended, heatless squash matches.

Look directly at this week's episode of Raw. Angel Garza and Berto boldly answered the call. What followed wasn't a professional wrestling match. It was a televised execution. Oba threw both men around like ragdolls, eating their meager offense as if they were hitting him with rolled-up magazines. He soundly defeated both competitors in a matter of minutes.

Berto and Garza are incredibly talented workers. They know how to bump, they know how to feed a comeback, and they understand ring psychology. To waste them in a sub-three-minute execution is a massive squandering of television time. If you are going to use seasoned veterans to build your new monster, they need to actually get some offense in. They need to look like they belong in the same building.

Following the show, Angel Garza posted a cryptic message on social media. He heavily implied intense frustration with his current spot on the roster. Who can possibly blame him? What did that match actually achieve in the grand scheme of things?

It didn't make Oba Femi look like a wrestling genius or an unstoppable killer. It just made Garza and Berto look completely useless. There is absolutely zero drama in a match where the outcome is visibly decided before the referee even rings the bell.

Monsters need to bleed

If Oba Femi is going to hold a weekly open challenge, he needs opponents who can actually threaten him. We don't need to see him hit a devastating powerbomb on a 200-pound cruiserweight for the fourth consecutive week. We need to see what happens when a heavyweight punches him squarely in the jaw.

Think about the legends of the industry. Kenta Kobashi didn't become an international icon simply by chopping smaller guys into oblivion. He became a legend because of the brutal, grueling wars he fought. He took ungodly amounts of punishment and kept moving forward through the pain.

Right now, Oba Femi is dishing out all of the punishment, but he isn't taking a single meaningful bump. As a direct result, the live crowds are starting to sit on their hands. Silence is the absolute worst sound a wrestler can hear.

The booking trap heading into Italy

This brings us to the immediate, pressing future. Saturday Night’s Main Event is rapidly approaching on May 23. It is a massive television special, and it serves as the direct lead-in to WWE Clash in Italy. The rumor mill is completely consumed right now with the identity of Oba Femi's opponent for the Italian premium live event.

But WWE creative has a massive structural problem staring them in the face. Because they have spent the last entire month feeding the lower-midcard to Oba in rapid-fire squashes, there is literally no one left with any heat to step up.

They have sacrificed the entire supporting cast to build up the leading man. Now, the leading man has absolutely no one compelling to fight. This is the inherent, fatal flaw of the monster push. If you make a guy look too dominant against weak competition, you completely destroy the audience's suspension of disbelief when he finally faces a real opponent.

WWE cannot afford to trot out another pathetic sacrifice on May 23. If a local independent talent or a struggling tag team wrestler answers the open challenge at Saturday Night's Main Event, the audience will actively revolt. They are tired of the lazy formula. They want a real, gritty fight.

The prediction I am willing to stand by

The solution here is painful but entirely necessary. Oba Femi needs to bleed. He needs to get dragged into the deep water.

WWE is running out of runway, but they usually figure it out right before the plane crashes. Here is exactly what is going to happen next week.

At Saturday Night's Main Event, Oba Femi will issue the open challenge one more time. For a brief, terrifying moment, it will seem like another jobber is coming down the ramp. But then, a massive, established veteran will answer the call. I firmly predict Sheamus will be the man walking through that curtain.

Sheamus is the perfect gatekeeper. The Celtic Warrior thrives in exactly this kind of chaotic, hard-hitting environment. He will welcome Oba's stiffest lariats and answer with absolute brutality. He is the one guy on the roster who won't back down from a pure fistfight.

They are going to beat each other completely senseless. It won't be a three-minute squash. It will be a grueling, hard-hitting, 15-minute war. Oba will take more physical damage in that single match than he has in the entire last month combined.

The match will likely end in a chaotic double count-out, setting up a massive, high-stakes No Disqualification brawl for WWE Clash in Italy. Oba Femi will ultimately walk out of Italy with his arm raised, but he will leave a piece of himself on the mat. He will finally transition from a carefully protected monster into a battle-tested star.

Meanwhile, Trick Williams will continue to thrive exactly where he is. He will defend his United States Championship in the match of the night at Clash in Italy, solidifying his reign and proving to the world that his current momentum is entirely authentic.

WWE has absolute gold with both of these men right now. They just need to remember how to polish it.