Oba Femi has borrowed from some pro wrestling legends for his own ring entrance.
WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard spoke with Oba Femi ahead of his title defense at NXT Heatwave. He will defend his North American Championship against Wes Lee, who will have his last shot at Femi’s title if he loses.
Oba Femi has impressed since he made his NXT debut in 2022, part of which is due to his ominous entrance, which includes a slow strut to the beat of his music. Femi said he borrowed part of it from Ric Flair’s own strut, which has the same timing. He says it’s an organic addition to his presentation, which he tries to take as much time as allowed to maximize its effect.
Oba Femi on making an entrance
“Well, the march to the ring especially, it just has more to do with the entrance theme song than it has to do with any necessary character presentation. I feel like people have definitely seen that strut before, but most people are not sure where they’ve seen it. But if you look from the Buddy Rogers to the Ric Flairs to the Oba Femis, it’s the same thing. It’s just done slightly differently, different renditions of it. And it flows with the beat. So, the strut and all that stuff, a lot of these additions have again, been organic.”
Oba Femi says the strut matched the beat, so he started doing it and kept it since it just made sense. He compared it to a march to war, noting that he never understood why some performers would run to the ring and take away from their screen time.
“It felt like a march to war, as a march of confidence. As opposed to a charge, you know? I’ve never understood like, why your music would hit, and you bolt to the ring, and you spend as little time on camera, as opposed to [taking it all in]. ‘What is that? Like, why are you doing that? Why are you running?’ There is no need to do that. But if you take your time and you march to war there’s a certain confidence that goes with that,” Oba Femi stated.
“Look at the end of The Undertaker’s entrance. It takes ten minutes,” he continued. “But that’s ten minutes of anticipation, and confidence, and aura. So that’s the same thing I try to adopt.”
Making A Good Impression
During a past interview with Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald, Oba Femi believed he nailed his first impression in NXT and stressed its importance. Femi was asked how he’d advise talent that didn’t feel that way, whether they overthought it or just weren’t happy with their debut.
“If you have already made the impression, that’s done. However good it went, it went. But, it’s not the end of the world. Even if you have a ‘bad’ first impression, I feel like over time, people will actually realize who you are and it will eventually come across. Even if you haven’t found out who you are, or who you want to present yourself to be,” he explained, “At some point, you will and the more consistent you are, eventually, the people will get it.
“The people will start to come to your side,” he continued. “Like, I know a lot of people who started a new job or went to a new school. And at first, they are the weird kid or the new guy. But after one or two years, you are not the new guy anymore. You are not the weird kid anymore. You are John, or you’re Bill, or Evan, or whoever you actually are. And that’s how people will start to perceive you. They will find out who you are in the long run.”
Oba Femi will defend the North American Championship against Wes Lee at NXT Heatwave, which will take place on Sunday, July 7 in Toronto, Canada.
Watch our full interview with Oba Femi below:
