Oba Femi emerges as potential Brock Lesnar opponent after open challenge on Raw

Paul Heyman issued an open challenge on Monday’s Raw after two segments focused on oba femi, a sequence that has steered talk toward a possible WrestleMania showdown between the 48-year-old Brock Lesnar and the 27-year-old phenom.

Oba Femi highlighted in back-to-back Raw segments

Raw opened with a vignette showcasing the dominance of former NXT Champion and main roster free agent Oba Femi, and that highlight reel was followed by a confrontation in the ring with Rusev that teased a future matchup. At GM Adam Pearce’s request, the two men backed off so they wouldn’t steal the night’s focus on AJ Styles; Michael Cole then reminded viewers that Lesnar had eliminated Femi from this year’s men’s Royal Rumble.

Heyman’s open challenge set as WrestleMania main event

Standing beside Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman framed Lesnar as WrestleMania’s true headline attraction, noting that Lesnar ended The Undertaker’s streak and has occupied the main event role. Heyman unveiled Lesnar’s Raw schedule on the road to WrestleMania and issued an open challenge "to anyone willing to step up" to face Lesnar, saying, "You can have all the title matches you want, the real main event at WrestleMania is whomever’s gonna get their ass kicked and conquered versus Brock Lesnar. "

What a matchup would mean and where things go next

WWE’s back-to-back booking — two Oba Femi segments and Lesnar’s open challenge — strongly hints at a Femi vs. Lesnar match at WrestleMania. Lesnar, age 48, is described as nearing the end of his career; Oba Femi, listed at 6'6" and weighing over 300 pounds, is positioned as the size-and-age candidate to become the company’s next top star. Heyman has also spoken publicly about planning for WrestleMania in Saudi Arabia and linked that long-term planning to this year’s Vegas Mania build, saying on the Busted Open podcast, "Let’s book Saudi Mania. It’s going to make booking Vegas Mania much easier. "

The open challenge and the two Oba Femi segments set clear direction for WWE’s immediate schedule: Lesnar’s challenge is aimed at this year’s WrestleMania, and Heyman has already pushed planning for the company’s WrestleMania in Saudi Arabia as part of the road map forward.