5 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (25 May - Results & Review)
2. A Huge Rematch… With A Caveat
Oba Femi versus Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 42 was a near-perfect, star-making moment that solidified The Ruler’s standing as the next Next Big Thing in WWE. Their feud was so great that you had to wonder if and when they’d try to come back to it, even with Brock “retiring” at 'Mania.
In a perfect world, this would have come months down the line, after Oba had established himself even more as the man on Raw, making it more of a last gasp from Lesnar.
Instead, Brock has returned after a month to jump Oba and challenge him, delivering a video message Monday where he acknowledged that he got an a**-whipping like no other at WrestleMania 42, but it didn’t sit well with him to walk away, so he was coming back as a humbled and retired Beast to deliver a whipping to Femi.
Oba answered in person, asking Paul Heyman that while he had awakened the Beast, what did he think Lesnar awakened in Femi last week? He promised to retire Brock, saying he was coming to kill the Beast this time.
The Ruler has been unblemished in his run, obliterating everyone in his path. The only person to even slow him down was Lesnar last week, who needed to feign retirement and attack Oba from behind to get an advantage. In theory, this rematch should be more of the same, albeit perhaps a longer, more back-and-forth match that ends with the same result.
If WWE booked this match as part of a trilogy (as they love to do) with Brock getting the win to 50/50 the rivalry and set up a rubber match, then that would be a colossal booking mistake, and the creative team should be launched into the sun. An Oba loss here would damage his aura in the name of booking a simple rematch, and you can’t recapture what they’ve got organically here.
Even WCW managed to not muddy up Goldberg’s run until well after he had won the world championship.
Oba Femi should ultimately vanquish Brock Lesnar again en route to a major SummerSlam match, perhaps for the World Heavyweight Championship, perhaps a retirement match as the final chapter with Brock. But if WWE is going to tinker with the near-perfection of the WrestleMania feud, they best not screw this up.