Oba Femi on Learning From Shawn Michaels in NXT, Drawing Inspiration From Bray Wyatt, Main Goal for His WWE Career, & His “Oba Strut” for His Entrances for His Matches Being Inspired By Ric Flair

A recent episode of the What’s Your Story with Stephanie McMahon podcast featured Oba Femi as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Femi’s thoughts about how when he was in WWE’s NXT brand, he would come up with elaborate finishes for his matches and how WWE SVP of NXT and Talent Relations and NXT head booker would reject those ideas. Femi also gave his thoughts about how it initially bothered him when Michaels would reject those ideas but he learned an important lesson from Michaels in the process.

“You can, but I don’t think that’s going to work. You will be very frustrated. And I think I learned that lesson quickly. So here in NXT when I was in developmental, I’ll come up with these matches and come up with these elaborate finishes and stuff like that. And Shawn would always change it. Shawn Michaels would always change it. And I’m just like — and it used to like eat at me at first. But I’m like, he knows where we’re going after this. I don’t know where we’re going after this. So you kind of have to just lend yourself as a tool to make the art come to life and be okay with where it goes.

And at the end of the day, I’m like, okay, whatever I have in mind, I have to put that to the side. It’s what Shawn wants, to give him what he wants. And I will give him what he wants. So I learned quickly, that’s part of being a student of the game. Like, sometimes I would ask him what he’s looking for and then go draft something. And then he still doesn’t like it — and that’s fine too. But at least that’s part of the learning process, seeing where his mind is at, what direction he’s trying to go on, and learning from him.

Because I don’t know how to book wrestling. I’m not a booker, but it’s an important skill to learn. I feel like a lot of guys, they’re just like, ‘Make me champion.’ You know, ‘Do this for me, do that for me.’ But they don’t even understand the patterns and the way in which the booking works. The ‘why.’ So I just lent myself to Shawn and I let him take me where I needed to be.”

Femi also stated that NXT head trainer Matt Bloom, Ivar, and Terry Taylor were some of the other people he was able to learn from in NXT.

Femi also gave his thoughts about how he loved watching Bray Wyatt and the original Wyatt Family in WWE when he used to watch WWE shows growing up in Nigeria.

“I loved Bray. I really, I loved the original Wyatt family. I just felt so passionately about [them]. The NXT version and when they first got to the main roster. I remember there was one line that they hit. I actually used that line in a promo a few years ago. He said, ‘You can send anybody after us, but like, don’t send anyone that you want back.’ And I was like, ‘This is the greatest bar ever.’ What a bar, what a mic drop. So I loved Bray, I loved watching Bray.”

Femi also stated that another wrestler he liked watching was Triple H and how he felt he was the total package as a wrestler.

“At this time, your husband. I’ve watched his stuff, I’ve studied him. It was the way he worked. Just the intensity, the precision. I liked the way he worked in the ring. He was like more of a complete superstar. Like, he was good at everything. Nothing was lacking.

And I like that. You know, you have your promo guys and your body guys and your workrate guys and all that stuff. But he was complete. The total package, and I respected that.”

Femi also gave his thoughts about his main goal for his WWE career is to make people feel the same way he did when he was a fan.

“I want to sound real. I want to be real. I want to make people feel things. I want to give and then take it away. And I want them to go on that ride with me. That’s what I want to do in wrestling. I mean, championships and conquest is going to come. You know, The Ruler is The Ruler. But I think that’s my big takeaway. I think that’s like when I’m done, I want people to feel Oba Femi.”

Femi also gave his thoughts about how his “Oba Strut” he does for his entrances for his matches was inspired by WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair’s entrance strut.

“I mean, it’s kind of a twist on Ric Flair. It’s a different one. I made it more modern. It’s more arm action, more shoulders. It’s catching fire right now. I really should start a TikTok because it’s going crazy on there.”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com 1 & 2, Fightful.com