•Oba Femi was an athlete before pivoting to wrestling
They say home is where the heart is. But for WWE star Oba Femi, home is where the work started!
Known in the rings as “The Ruler,” Nigerian-born Isaac Odugbesan is taking the wrestling world by storm.
Last month, the powerhouse defeated Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas, cementing his place as one of the fast-rising WWE stars.
Just this week, Femi spectacularly crushed Otis at the CHI Health Centre, Omaha, Nebraska, in an overwhelming display of strength as Oba Femi’s open challenge began.
His dominance is best pictured in his entry into the ring. As the gates to the massive arena swing open, Femi emerges framed by light, his outstretched arms claiming the space.
Draped in heavy, layered coral beads and traditional regalia, he looks more like a monarch and less like a wrestler. While he marches to the ring, the crowd breaks into a rhythmic, stomp-clap salute: “O-BA! FE-MI!”, a chant showcasing his connection to and popularity among WWE faithful.
Resilience from the Roots
Despite his rise to stardom in the WWE, the 6-foot-6, 310-pound giant credits his upbringing in Lagos, Nigeria, for having prepped him for the big stage.
“The way the country is structured, if you can make it there, if you can survive there, you can survive anywhere. I feel like that’s where the … saying really comes from: ‘Naija no dey carry last,’” the 28-year-old told CNN, referencing the popular Pidgin English expression, which is used to show the resilience and drive of a typical Nigerian.
Oba Femi says his Yoruba upbringing also shaped his approach to life, spotlighting the ‘respect culture’ of one of Nigeria’s biggest ethnic groups as a value that “takes you far”.
“You have to bring some element of respect and likability to the table … and that’s one thing that Yoruba people are pretty good at,” he said.
Before moving to the US in 2017 to pursue a career in athletics, Femi represented the University of Lagos (UNILAG) at the Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA), winning medals for the school.
In the US, Femi was a student at the University of Alabama. There, he established himself as one of the outstanding shot putters and later won the Southeastern Conference Indoor Shot Put Championship in 2021 and 2022.
That same year, 2022, the Nigerian-born athlete won the SEC outdoor title in a school record of 20.7 metres (67.9 feet).
The Pivot
He was on a steady rise to stardom in athletics and dreamt of featuring at the Olympics.
“I had aspirations to go to the Olympics and win medals, and I achieved some of that to a degree,” the WWE star said.
But destiny had other things in store. When WWE reached out to him on social media, his path took a different turn.
His transition from track and field to the rings was not accidental. Femi believes his physique played a pivotal role in that attraction.
“I’m guessing they saw the package, they saw the size, you know, they saw some of my throwing videos,” he said. “I showcase some sort of intensity during my throwing, so I’m sure that’s what drew them (to me).”
At that crossroads in 2022, when the path in athletics was becoming clearer, Femi fully embraced WWE, pushing him entirely into a new career.
“I qualified for … the 2022 World Championships, but at the time when I found out that I qualified based on points, I was already gearing up to start my WWE journey,” Femi said.
A Dream to Inspire Next Generation
Instead of looking back at what could have been in athletics, the Nigerian made a bold call: “I took that piece of information, put it in my pocket, and I continued heading towards the WWE because that chapter was closed.”
Femi, who has a bachelor’s degree in visual arts, is an artist, and he thought in his younger years that he was going to embrace that as a career.
But he admitted that “we can’t always assume that human beings are one-dimensional.”
As the years rolled by, the wrestler said, “it kind of became a chore,” and that “after a while there was a little bit of burnout and … it just became something I was good at as opposed to a passion.”
He, however, dreams of returning to his first love, a craft he said still has “a place in my heart”.
Now an established name in wrestling, the Lagos-born WWE star does not regret giving up his athletic dreams.
Femi’s focus is now on using the WWE platform to inspire the next generation of Nigerians and others across the world.
He wants “to leave an impact on the generation coming up so they can feel how I felt coming up”.
