Brock Lesnar's final chapter must end with Oba Femi

The inevitable fading of the Beast

Brock Lesnar returning to Monday Night Raw in May 2026 feels different. The heavy guitar riff hits, the pyro explodes, and the crowd reacts exactly how they are programmed to. But the physical reality of a man approaching his late forties cannot be masked by entrance music. Lesnar is in the twilight of his career, turning 49 this summer.

The recent reports from WrestleTalk regarding his retirement plans are an acknowledgement of biological reality. Wrestling relies on the illusion of permanence. We want our monsters to remain unbeatable. But Lesnar has taken enough bumps, both in the squared circle and the octagon, to fill three lifetimes.

His current run is a slow, lucrative march toward the exit door. WWE has always struggled with how to handle aging monsters. When your entire gimmick is predicated on being physically superior to every man in the room, getting old is a career death sentence. You cannot transition into a wily veteran who relies on technical prowess when the audience expects you to throw massive heavyweights across the ring.

Look at Kane or Big Show. Their final years were plagued by diminishing returns. They became stepping stones, losing their aura with every clean defeat. Lesnar has largely avoided this trap through scarcity. By wrestling a handful of times a year, he hides his physical decline. But the matches themselves have degraded.

The mechanics of Suplex City

Go back and watch Lesnar's initial return in 2012 against John Cena at Extreme Rules. That was a masterclass in realistic violence. Lesnar looked like a legitimate predator. He used his amateur wrestling base to grind Cena down, utilizing kimuras and ground-and-pound strikes that blurred the line between sports entertainment and mixed martial arts.

Before Suplex City became a marketing gimmick, Lesnar was capable of putting on complex, layered narratives. His match against CM Punk at SummerSlam 2013 remains the absolute peak of his modern run. In that bout, Lesnar played the unstoppable Goliath, but he allowed Punk to outsmart him. Punk used weapons, speed, and targeted submissions to chop Lesnar down. Lesnar sold his knee. He sold his exhaustion. He looked vulnerable before finally securing the victory.

That version of Brock Lesnar has been missing for a decade. Then came SummerSlam 2014. The birth of Suplex City. It was a shocking piece of business at the time. Lesnar hit Cena with 16 German suplexes. It completely broke the established formula of a WWE main event.

But it also became an unbearable crutch. From 2016 onward, Lesnar's matches became agonizingly predictable. He would spam suplexes, hit an F-5, and go home. He replaced in-ring psychology with a predictable sprint. This lazy approach actively damaged the main event scene.

During his 504-day Universal Championship reign, he devalued the rest of the roster. When a guy can beat the top stars with just two moves, it makes everyone else look incompetent. It was lazy booking masquerading as dominance. Lesnar's matches became high-priced squashes that stalled the momentum of guys like Braun Strowman and Samoa Joe.

The static power of Oba Femi

This brings us to Oba Femi. The rising powerhouse is exactly the kind of athlete who exposes the flaws in the Suplex City formula. Femi doesn't just have size; he has explosive, static power.

Femi’s offensive arsenal is built entirely around minimizing his opponent's agility. Watch his wrist control. Before he even attempts a lift, he traps the arms, ensuring the opponent cannot post up or shift their weight. His signature pop-up powerbomb isn't just a finisher; it's a statement of absolute control.

When Femi throws an opponent, he doesn't use their momentum. He deadlifts them. It is a terrifying display of raw biomechanics. He is one of the few men on the current roster who looks like he could genuinely overpower Lesnar in a test of strength.

Let's break down the physical styles. Lesnar is a product of the University of Minnesota wrestling program. His hips are incredibly explosive. He shoots for takedowns with terrifying speed for a man weighing in at 275 pounds. Femi comes from a shot put and discus background. His power is generated from the ground up, through sheer torque and static lifting ability.

If Lesnar tries to shoot a double-leg takedown on Femi, he is running into a wall of muscle designed specifically to resist downward pressure and explode upward. Mechanically, Femi is the perfect counter to Lesnar's entire offensive output.

WWE has tried to build monsters to slay their giants before. Remember Vladimir Kozlov in 2008? They pushed him as an unstoppable machine, put him in the ring with Triple H, and exposed his total lack of ring awareness. Or Ryback in 2012. He had the look, but he lacked the stamina and the explosive safety required to work at the top level.

Oba Femi is different. He has shown an innate understanding of pacing. He doesn't rush his offense. He lets the crowd marinate in his dominance. He understands the quiet moments between moves.

Leaving the gloves on the mat

The WrestleTalk report specifically mentions a planned sequence for Lesnar's eventual exit.

After the match, Lesnar took off his gloves and boots […]

This is the exact piece of visual storytelling WWE needs to execute. The visual of leaving the gloves on the mat is a direct pull from MMA. When a UFC fighter decides they are done, they unwrap their hands and leave their gloves in the center of the cage. It is a definitive, unquestionable signal that the war is over.

Lesnar doing this in a WWE ring would be profound. His MMA gloves are the symbol of his legitimacy. They are the visual cue that separates him from the rest of the locker room. They signify that he is a prize fighter, not just an entertainer.

Taking them off after a defeat would not just signal a retirement. It would be a total transfer of that legitimacy. It tells the audience, without a single spoken word, that Oba Femi is the new apex predator.

If you book Lesnar against a smaller, agile opponent, the story writes itself. Lesnar catches them, throws them, and eventually hits an F-5 out of nowhere. Against Femi, the geometry of the ring changes.

Lesnar cannot comfortably control the center. If Lesnar tries a tie-up, Femi has the leverage and the center of gravity to push him back. This forces Lesnar to work from underneath, something he has rarely done outside of his brutal encounters with Roman Reigns.

A definitive ending

However, WWE's track record with these torch-passing moments is incredibly spotty. Too often, they overcomplicate the finish to protect the departing star.

If Femi is going to retire Lesnar, it has to be decisive. It cannot be a roll-up. It cannot involve a referee bump or a distraction from a manager. It must be a clean, violent victory in the center of the ring. A grueling 15-minute bout where the veteran simply cannot keep up with the new powerhouse.

WWE ruined Bray Wyatt's momentum for years by having him lose clean to John Cena at WrestleMania 30. They stalled Drew McIntyre's initial push by feeding him to established stars. Femi cannot afford that kind of start-and-stop booking.

If you put him in the ring with Brock Lesnar, Femi has to win. And he has to win convincingly. He needs to catch Lesnar in a feat of strength, completely nullify the F-5, and put Lesnar down for a clear three-count. Anything less is a waste of a generational rub.

Look at the current state of the main roster in May 2026. John Cena had his massive farewell at WrestleMania 41 in Vegas. Roman Reigns is working a severely reduced schedule. CM Punk is transitioning into a veteran attraction.

The top of the card is desperate for new, terrifying heels. Bron Breakker has found his footing, but he works a different style. Breakker is about speed and intensity. Femi is about inescapable dominance.

There is also a stark business reality to this matchup. WWE is a touring juggernaut navigating massive television deals. They need main eventers who can carry the brand on a Tuesday night in Toledo, not just in stadiums four times a year. Lesnar does not work house shows. He never will again. His value is entirely as a marquee attraction. Femi, conversely, is the future workhorse.

WWE has spent over a decade protecting Brock Lesnar at the expense of almost everyone else. He was the one chosen to end The Undertaker's legendary 21-match undefeated streak, a decision that is still debated today. He squashed Kofi Kingston in seconds to win a title. He has been given every accolade and every protective booking measure possible.

Now is the time to cash in that investment. Imagine the final minutes of that hypothetical match. Lesnar is exhausted. He has tried the German suplexes, but he can't get Femi over his head.

The brute strength that Lesnar has relied on since 2002 is finally failing him. Femi doesn't panic. He just stalks the veteran. When Lesnar goes for one last desperate lunge, Femi intercepts him with a massive powerbomb. A clean pinfall.

The crowd goes dead silent, realizing what they just witnessed. Femi leaves the ring, his monstrous aura fully cemented. Lesnar is left alone on the mat. He sits up, looks at his hands, and slowly unstraps the MMA gloves.

This is how you build a star. You don't do it with long promos opening Monday Night Raw. You don't do it with midcard title runs that drag on for months.

You build a star by taking the most dangerous, protected entity in the company and having the new guy dismantle him. Lesnar's return shouldn't be about popping a rating. It should be a farewell tour with a very specific, ruthless destination. The Beast has run out of victims. It is time for him to become the prey.