Reason why Oba Femi gave up his SummerSlam title shot explained by WWE Hall of Famer

A WWE Hall of Famer is sold on Brock Lesnar vs. Oba Femi’s blowoff match at SummerSlam 2026. The third match was something everyone saw coming, but never at the expense of Oba’s title shot. Now, the very veteran is explaining why Femi’s choice to close the Lesnar chapter over a world title match was necessary.

On a recent episode of Busted Open, the WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray broke down the psychological storytelling behind Femi’s shocking SummerSlam decision. He first praised how brilliant the Lesnar and Paul Heyman segment was, which completely manipulated the situation. Instead of making a calculated business decision, Oba was entirely swept up in the pursuit of confronting The Beast Incarnate.

“A lot of people don’t understand it because of the moment that was created by Brock and Paul. Oba got caught up in the moment; that’s why he chose Brock. That was the beauty of what they did. Brock basically gave Oba no choice. I’m going to kick you in the balls right before you make a decision on which championship you’re going to be fighting for at SummerSlam. Completely took his mind off of the prize. Otherwise, Oba would have chosen a championship,” said Bully Ray (9:14 onwards).

The WWE Hall of Famer explained that Lesnar mentally blindsided Femi right before he was set to choose his path, potentially a bout with Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship. However, Brock’s presence triggered a reaction in Oba to the point that he felt the world titles could be chased later.

All this, however, came up in the discussion about Cody Rhodes getting back in line for the Undisputed WWE Championship against CM Punk. However, he should keep that path ongoing and not leave that bout for Gunther.

WWE Hall of Famer loved one particular gesture before Sami Zayn vs. CM Punk

WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray noticed that when CM Punk got in the ring to face Sami Zayn, the latter shoved him off, almost like a frivolous reaction to how Sami was prepared for Cody Rhodes, but he wanted none of Punk.

“When Punk gets in the ring, and Sami walks to Punk, and they’re face to face, out of nowhere, Sami mushes Punk right in the face. And that got a gasp from the audience. And that slight little mush shoving Punk’s head meant so I don’t think Punk knew it was coming. And look at his eyes afterwards. Look at his face light up afterwards. He was like, ‘Oh, okay, mother trucker. This is the way it’s going to be,'” said Bully Ray.

On the same podcast, Bully said that he loved this moment because it instantly got a crowd reaction. The Chicago crowd was there for Punkster, and the Undisputed WWE Champion treating Punk like that quickly fired up the audience.

If you use quotes from this article, please credit Busted Open Podcast and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.