Report: Oba Femi Always Planned To Win WWE King Of The Ring, Not Challenge For World Title At SummerSlam

WWE handed Oba Femi another monumental victory at Night Of Champions 2026, beating Jey Uso to become the new King Of The Ring before passing up his guaranteed world title shot for SummerSlam in order to instead finish his feud with Brock Lesnar, battling him in a Hell In A Cell rubber match. This is not a case of plans changing, per reports. 

According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the decision for Femi to win King Of The Ring and turn down a title match was always WWE’s plan. The thinking behind this from WWE was reportedly due to the idea that waiting on pulling the trigger would in turn make Femi vs. Roman Reigns a bigger match down the line.

It was revealed on Monday Night RAW that Roman Reigns would instead be facing Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship, with other reports suggesting that WWE’s original plan for the WWE Championship scene at SummerSlam would be for Cody Rhdoes to face CM Punk, though it isn’t clear if these plans have changed following on from Sami Zayn’s WWE Title win at Night Of Champions.