Oba Femi details learning from Shawn Michaels in WWE NXT
Coming up in WWE NXT, Oba Femi was able to learn a lot from Shawn Michaels.
Femi reflected on his tenure in developmental while appearing on this week’s edition of Stephanie McMahon’s “What’s Your Story?” podcast. When he was in NXT, Femi would come up with elaborate finishes for his matches. It initially bothered him when Michaels would reject those ideas, but Femi learned an important lesson in the process. Everyone is part of the show and all of those elements have to fit together to form a complete picture.
“You can, but I don’t think that’s going to work. You will be very frustrated,” he responded when asked if it’s possible to be a perfectionist in wrestling. “And I think I learned that lesson quickly. So here in NXT when I was in developmental, I’ll come up with these matches and come up with these elaborate finishes and stuff like that. And Shawn would always change it. Shawn Michaels would always change it. And I’m just like — and it used to like eat at me at first. But I’m like, he knows where we’re going after this. I don’t know where we’re going after this. So you kind of have to just lend yourself as a tool to make the art come to life and be okay with where it goes.”
Femi was more than happy to have Michaels tell him what to do given all that Michaels has accomplished in wrestling.
“And at the end of the day, I’m like, okay, whatever I have in mind, I have to put that to the side. It’s what Shawn wants, to give him what he wants. And I will give him what he wants,” Femi said. “So I learned quickly, that’s part of being a student of the game. Like, sometimes I would ask him what he’s looking for and then go draft something. And then he still doesn’t like it — and that’s fine too. But at least that’s part of the learning process, seeing where his mind is at, what direction he’s trying to go on, and learning from him.
“Because I don’t know how to book wrestling. I’m not a booker, but it’s an important skill to learn. I feel like a lot of guys, they’re just like, ‘Make me champion.’ You know, ‘Do this for me, do that for me.’ But they don’t even understand the patterns and the way in which the booking works. The ‘why.’ So I just lent myself to Shawn and I let him take me where I needed to be.”
Matt Bloom, Ivar, and Terry Taylor are some of the other people Femi was able to learn from in NXT. He and Taylor would often disagree about things, but Taylor helped Femi understand the minutiae and nuance of pro wrestling.
Outside of the ring, Femi learned a lot about respect from his father and a lot about love from his mother. He learned to dream big through public figures like Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, and former Navy SEAL David Goggins.
Femi was called up to the WWE main roster near the start of 2026 and is now set for a WrestleMania 42 clash against Brock Lesnar.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.