Courtesy; Oba Femi
WWE Night of Champions delivered two crowning moments on Saturday at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Oba Femi won the King of the Ring tournament by defeating Jey Uso in the final. IYO SKY won the Queen of the Ring by defeating Liv Morgan. Both winners immediately became major players in the SummerSlam picture.
The question heading into the event was not whether Femi was talented enough to win. It was whether WWE would find a reason to take the crown away from him. Neither the Bloodline nor Brock Lesnar appeared. The match played out cleanly and Femi walked out as king.
How Femi won the King of the Ring
Femi picked up a rib injury early in the match that slowed his momentum and gave Uso a window to build offense. Jey used that window well. He connected with multiple super kicks, landed several Uso Splashes and locked in the sleeper hold that had previously won him a world championship. Femi absorbed all of it and refused to yield.
When Femi finally got rolling, the result became clear quickly. Two running uppercuts into the turnbuckle left Uso unable to defend himself. The Fall From Grace followed and ended the match. SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis presented Femi with the crown. After the match, Femi addressed the win, calling the outcome a matter of destiny and declaring that nobody could beat him. He has not yet officially announced who he will challenge for a world title at SummerSlam.
IYO SKY wins the Queen of the Ring
The Queen of the Ring final added a storyline twist before the first bell. Danhausen appeared and placed a curse on Liv Morgan after she interrupted him and demanded money on behalf of the Judgment Day. She slapped him. The curse, as fate would have it, appeared to hold.
Morgan went after SKY’s knee after it was tweaked during the match, targeting the injury throughout. SKY overcame the pressure and connected with the Over the Moonsault for the pin. After winning the crown, SKY immediately issued a challenge for Morgan’s WWE Women’s World Championship at SummerSlam.
What Femi’s win means for WWE’s future
WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque made his view of Femi clear this week in a Sirius XM interview with Stephen A. Smith. He said Femi has the potential to be as big as anyone the company has ever produced. Levesque also named Trick Williams, Je’Von Evans and Sol Ruca as part of a group of young talent he expects to headline WrestleMania within the next few years.
Femi’s path to a world title match at SummerSlam closes a chapter of momentum building that started with his debut and continued through consecutive wins over significant opponents. The rubber match with Brock Lesnar, who beat Femi at Clash in Italy after Femi beat him at WrestleMania 42, remains a future certainty. However, no timeline or formal announcement exists for that bout. For now, the crown sits on Femi’s head and a world championship may be next.
SOURCE: ESPN
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