Backstage Update on Oba Femi Giving Up World Title Shot Opportunity for Brock Lesnar Match at WWE SummerSlam 2026

As noted before, Oba Femi is believed to no longer have his guaranteed World title shot opportunity in reserve following him choosing to face off against Brock Lesnar instead of going after the WWE World Heavyweight Championship or Undisputed WWE Championship for his match at this August’s SummerSlam 2026 event.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsleter that his sources stated that Femi forgoing his title shot for SummerSlam was always WWE officials plans for him following his King of the Ring tournament victory.

Meltzer reported that idea for the decision was to create Roman Reigns vs. Femu as the biggest match possible but it is currently not known if this means that the match is being saved for next year’s WrestleMania 43 event in Saudi Arabia.

Meltzer speculated that he felt it was too soon for Femi to get a major World Championship match nor match against Reigns and needs more of a chase since having him losing he first time to Reigns would not be the right idea. Meltzer also reported that while it worked for someone like Cody Rhodes in WWE and Will Ospreay in AEW, it failed to work for someone like Lex Luger in WWE and wouldn’t have worked for someone like Bill Goldberg in WWE.

Meltzer reported that the Lesnar vs. Femi feud is currently the hottest program in WWE based on YouTube numbers and crowd reactions. Meltzer also reported that the only ending that would make sense is Femi winning but it probably wouldn’t hurt him to lose due to WWE’s fanbase doesn’t really care about wins and losses. Meltzer also reported that he doesn’t see an upside to Lesnar winning the Hell in a Cell match at SummerSlam due to him winning the last one at Clash in Italy was meant to set up their third match at SummerSlam.