Only months after joining the WWE main roster, Femi will wrestle 10-time world champion Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. Even booking the match is a Herculean feat for a superstar in their rookie year on Raw or SmackDown, but it only scratches the surface of what Femi sets out to accomplish. The high-profile match is a credit not only to his potential but also to his self-perception.
"The key thing in such moments is to remind yourself that you belong," Femi told CBS Sports at the WWE 2K26 event in Stamford last month. "A lot of people get called up or get into the industry, and they see the top guys as stars who are bigger than them. They still see themselves as fans. After a while, you have to get rid of that. It has to go.
"That has been out of the door when it comes to me. As soon as I signed my NXT contract, I was under the impression that these guys were my equals. My heroes will be my rivals. I made that a statement. I think that came to fruition when I stood across Brock at the Royal Rumble."
Lesnar, 25 at the time, became the youngest WWE champion in history after beating The Rock in 2002, who shared the record with Yokozuna before Lesnar's ascension. Professional wrestling is a cyclical jungle. Lesnar now finds himself as the old lion, forced to fend off a new apex predator.
"Legacy-wise, it'll be a great thing for me. I think Brock knows there's a new kid on the block," Femi said. "The old guard will always want to stop the new guard from coming up... It'll be spectacular."
WWE was undergoing a youth renaissance when Lesnar won his first WWE title. Randy Orton became the youngest world champion at 24, and Cena won the title at 27, the first of his record 17 world title reigns.
WWE's top male stars skew older these days. The company's two men's world champions are both in their 40s. Not since Bray Wyatt in 2017 has a WWE superstar under 30 won a men's world title.
But Femi, appropriately nicknamed "The Ruler," leads the charge for another cycle of change. Standing across from Lesnar, one of WWE's all-time top attractions, signals it. The notion of becoming the first world champion under 30 in nearly a decade isn't a pipedream. It's very much possible, and even likely, as far as the 28-year-old is concerned.
"I think the odds are very high," Femi said confidently. "The odds are stacked in my favor. I'm young, I'm spry, I'm ready and I'm hungry. I'm a lot hungrier than a lot of these 47-year-olds, I'll tell you that. I think we'll see that happen very soon because it's not just me. It's Bron Breakker and Dominik Mysterio. There's so much going on right now when it comes to young talent."
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