Oba Femi put up a career-defining victory in his WrestleMania debut, defeating the legendary Brock Lesnar in the opening match of Night 2 of WrestleMania 42 on Sunday.
Following the loss, Lesnar seems to have teased his retirement from WWE, leaving his gloves and boots in the ring as fans serenaded him with “thank you Lesnar” chants as he exited.
Several weeks ago, Paul Heyman accompanied Lesnar to the ring and laid down an open challenge for WrestleMania, imploring anyone in the WWE locker room to step up and try to make a name for themselves at The Beast Incarnate’s expense.
OBA FEMI DEFEATS BROCK LESNAR AT WRESTLEMANIA 😱
Stream night two of #WrestleMania on the ESPN App with an ESPN Unlimited plan. pic.twitter.com/e3NYgYJRPg
— ESPN (@espn) April 19, 2026
A couple of weeks later, Lesnar appeared on Raw in an effort to get payback on behalf of Heyman, who had been hit with a steel chair and stomped by Seth Rollins.
Lesnar plowed through Rollins’ group of masked men, but just as he was about to get his hands on The Visionary, Femi’s music hit, and he came face to face with Brock in the middle of the ring, per Fox News.
Oba then hit Lesnar with the Fall From Grace, placed his boot on Lesnar’s chest and pointed to the WrestleMania sign, signifying that he would be the one to answer Lesnar’s challenge.
The match was made official later that night, ensuring that Femi would go on to have the biggest match of his young career thus far on the Grandest Stage of Them All.
Femi’s rise to prominence has mirrored that of Lesnar’s in many ways, as Oba dominated NXT before getting called up to the main roster and mowing down everyone placed in his path.
Similarly, Lesnar was a force in OVW before making the leap to WWE and immediately establishing himself as “The Next Big Thing.”
An emotional Brock Lesnar taking off his gloves and boots in the ring after losing to Oba Femi. 😮 #WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/kfBS4GTAac
— Netflix Sports (@netflixsports) April 19, 2026
Lesnar won the WWE Championship just 126 days after his televised WWE debut, and Femi had a chance to put himself in immediate championship contention if he could beat Brock at WrestleMania.
Following his win over Lesnar at the Showcase of the Immortals now under his belt, the Nigerian superstar is poised to reach the pinnacle of WWE in the near future.
