Jim Ross is not ready to say Oba Femi is the next top star in WWE, and the reason is that he has never spoken to him.
Asked on the latest Grilling JR whether he sees in Femi what a lot of fans do, Ross was careful.
“I think he’s got great potential, but I think it’s too early in his progress to define where we think he might go. He looks incredible. I never met him, but I hear he’s a decent guy. If he listens well this weekend, he’ll come out okay.”
He said the weekend itself is worth a great deal regardless.
“But it’s a great opportunity for him. Hope he understands that to turn heads, simply working with Brock Lesnar on a pay-per-view is a big deal.”
What Ross said he would need before making a call is a conversation.
“I couldn’t give you a definitive answer until I would have an eye to eye chat with Oba. What kind of guy is he? Is he intimidated easily or not? There’s a lot of ifs and a lot of things that haven’t been established that we need to wait on to see.”
He landed somewhere optimistic.
“But if we’re going on look and going on what we perceive as a good attitude from a young talented guy, he’s got a chance to be special.”
The crowd question
Ross also raised something that has gone largely undiscussed, which is who the Minneapolis audience will be behind.
“We’ve not made much of the fact that, you know, will Lesnar have a home field advantage? Will the crowd be very pro Lesnar because he’s from Minneapolis, went to school there at the University of Minnesota? I don’t know. We’ll find out. We’ll find out soon, and as early as the introductions.”
Lesnar wrestled at the University of Minnesota and won an NCAA heavyweight title there in 2000. He and Femi meet inside Hell in a Cell on Night One of SummerSlam at U.S. Bank Stadium.
