Oba Femi gave up his guaranteed World Championship Match at WWE SummerSlam on Monday night, choosing instead to face Brock Lesnar inside Hell in a Cell. The decision turned a coronation in Atlantic City into a new SummerSlam headliner and moved Femi away from the title path he had already earned.
Femi opened WWE Raw in Atlantic City after winning the King of the Ring Tournament at Night of Champions, but the celebration did not last long. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman interrupted him, Lesnar said Heyman had been keeping him informed about what Femi had been saying, and then he dropped Femi with a low blow and an F-5. That set up the challenge Femi wanted most: a SummerSlam fight with Lesnar, this time in Lesnar's hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Lesnar accepted, but only on one condition, and the condition changed everything. He pushed for Hell in a Cell, turning what could have been a straight match into a sealed, punishing setting that leaves little room for escape. Back from a commercial break, Adam Pearce told Femi backstage that by taking the Lesnar match, he would be foregoing his guaranteed world title opportunity at least for now.
That is the part that makes this decision linger. Femi already had a title shot coming at SummerSlam, and fans were expected to want to see him use it against World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns or WWE Champion Sami Zayn. Instead, he chose Lesnar, the man who had defeated him at Clash in Italy last month and had not appeared on WWE programming since. Femi brushed off the idea that the title opportunity was slipping away for good, saying he'll take his world title shots whenever he wants.
For now, the immediate picture is clear: Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar are headed to Hell in a Cell at WWE SummerSlam, and the guaranteed championship path that Femi earned at Night of Champions has been pushed aside. Whether he gets that shot back later is the question that matters most, because Femi has decided to chase Lesnar first and the title second.
