Raj Dhesi thinks WWE should turn Oba Femi heel, hand him to Paul Heyman, and let the audience decide when to start cheering him again.
The former WWE Champion, who wrestled as Jinder Mahal, made the suggestion on Instagram, reaching for the way the company introduced Brock Lesnar in 2002.
“Turn Oba Femi heel. Just like Brock Lesnar when he was when he debuted, have him destroy everybody and let the crowd naturally turn him babyface.”
“Put him with Paul Heyman.”
The comparison carries some weight this week. Femi beat Lesnar inside Hell in a Cell in the main event of SummerSlam night one on August 1, in what turned out to be Lesnar’s last match. Lesnar came back to the ring afterwards, raised Femi’s hand and told the crowd that Femi is the future and he is the past, then confirmed his retirement days later. WWE has since moved him to the alumni section of its website.
Dhesi is proposing that Femi be booked in the manner of the man he just retired.
Lesnar arrived on Raw in March 2002 with Heyman speaking for him and no attempt made to have the audience like him. He was presented as something to be survived rather than supported, won King of the Ring and the WWE Championship inside five months, and the crowd came round to him over time rather than because the company asked them to.
The Heyman half of the suggestion is not as distant as it might sound. Heyman was already involved in the build to Femi against Lesnar, adding a twist to the rivalry on the July 6 Raw.
Dhesi has a longer view on Femi than most people offering booking opinions. The two overlapped at the Performance Center, and Dhesi said on Busted Open in June that he had not seen a bright future for Femi when he first watched him train in NXT, and that he is now completely blown away by him.
Femi signed with WWE in 2022 and spent his developmental run as one of the most protected acts on the brand, holding the NXT Championship and the North American Championship. He was called up earlier this year and beat Lesnar at WrestleMania 42 on April 19, after which Lesnar left his gloves and boots in the ring in what was widely read as a retirement gesture. Lesnar returned on the May 18 Raw to attack him from behind, then beat him in a rematch at Clash in Italy on May 31 for Femi’s first singles loss on the main roster.
He recovered quickly. Femi came through a fatal four-way in the opening round of the King of the Ring tournament and beat Dominik Mysterio in the semifinals before beating Jey Uso in the final at Night of Champions, which came with a guaranteed world championship match at SummerSlam. He gave it up on the June 29 Raw to challenge Lesnar instead. Lesnar accepted on the condition the match took place inside Hell in a Cell, in his home state of Minnesota.
Femi won it in 11:39, finishing with Fall From Grace after kicking out of a tombstone onto the exposed wood beneath the ring.
He is currently positioned as a babyface. Sean Waltman and Eric Bischoff have both spoken about him this month, with Waltman calling him a monster and Bischoff saying he has a great deal of potential while cautioning that a man his size should not be trying to wrestle like a gymnast.
It is not the only heel turn Dhesi has called for recently. He said on WWE Radio’s Off The Ropes this month that Cody Rhodes should turn, arguing it would suit him because he knows Rhodes to be a heel in person, and describing him as a selfish star in the sense that reaching that level requires it.
Dhesi held the WWE Championship in 2017, beating Randy Orton at Backlash in May and holding it until November. He was released by WWE in April and has worked the independent circuit under his own name since, while remaining a regular on wrestling media.
