Oba Femi, Penta among four-way matches in WWE King of the Ring

“The Ruler” ran through Solo Sikoa and others to advance in the King of the Ring tournament. | (Photo: WWE) Like a coach drawing up plays for their quarterback, it’s one thing for WWE creative leader Paul Levesque to give direction. It’s another for someone — in this case, Oba Femi — to deliver. Just one day after suffering a crushing loss to Brock Lesnar at Clash In Italy, Femi proved why he’s the next big thing. With Solo Sikoa, Penta, and Carmelo Hayes selling like the rent was due, the former NXT Champion took the ball and scored an emphatic touchdown Monday on Raw while advancing in the King of the Ring tournament. But what made this showing truly special was what Femi did for himself to get back on his road to the top. First, he continued selling the effects from Lesnar’s beating, favoring a hurt left arm throughout the match. This told the audience that, though he wasn’t 100%, he was willing to play through the pain. Then came his promo, delivered with such conviction that fans in Turin applauded when he dropped the mic. The question now is what’s next for Femi. The prevailing thought is that he’ll face Lesnar again in Lesnar’s old stomping grounds, Minneapolis, at SummerSlam. However, the winner of the King of the Ring will get a world title match at that event. It’s conceivable that Femi could pull double duty if he wins the tournament. With SummerSlam being a two-day show, he could face Lesnar on night one, then wrestle for the title on night two. But if becoming king isn’t in the cards for Femi, WWE will need to tread carefully in scripting his next loss. Other Raw Takeaways LA Knight may be a megastar, but he’s quickly becoming a mega “Karen.” In a whiny yet entertaining segment, Knight took his concerns about the Bloodline to the manager, specifically Raw GM Adam Pearce, whom Knight accused of showing favoritism. “Last week, I’m seeing you making house calls to Roman Reigns’ locker room? You ain’t ever come to my little locker room, not once,” Knight cried. As Pearce noted, Reigns is the World Heavyweight Champion. That’s a box Knight has yet to check in WWE, and likely never will. And that’s why he’s complaining about Reigns staging a big ol’ family reunion. After his objections fell on deaf ears with the Usos the week before, his next move was to appeal to WWE’s brass. Why? Because in a showdown with Reigns, Knight doesn’t have the numbers on his side, even though the OTC is winning matches on his own these days. At this point, Knight would be better served using his energy to build an army to fight Reigns’ forces. Considering his old TNA buddy Drew McIntyre has nothing going on and has also had issues with the Bloodline, Knight might want to start there. In the meantime, don’t be surprised if — nay, when — Knight goes viral for belittling workers at concession stands for selling too much Bloodline merchandise and not enough of his own. Finally, Lyra Valkyria reminded everyone why she’s a rotten person. As she and Bayley were in the middle of an interview where Bayley talked up their hopes of competing for the Women’s Tag Team Championship, Lyra made a beeline for Sol Ruca. After her sucking up to the new Women’s Intercontinental Champion put her in line for a future title shot, Lyra was more concerned about her future than her partnership with Bayley. These two began an odd relationship last year that stemmed from their respective quests for the I.C. title. On more than one occasion, Lyra was uneasy (and unpleasant) about being friends with Bayley, who was exhibiting split personalities. Ultimately, that angle got dropped, and the two became best buds. As poet Maya Angelou famously said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Well, this is like the umpteenth time that Lyra has shown she’s a bad egg. If Bayley hasn’t gotten the hint by now, she deserves everything that’s coming to her when bird lady Lyra flaps her wings and leaves her in the dust.

There was a fair amount of concern among wrestling fans, at least the online ones, about Oba Femi after Brock Lesnar got his WrestleMania win back from Femi yesterday (May 31) at Clash in Italy. WWE made it clear The Ruler could take a heck of a beating, but we’ve all watched wrestlers lose momentum in the company while they take one win for every loss, and vice versa… aka “50/50 booking”. We wouldn’t say Femi is out of the woods just yet on that, but as far as next moves went, what WWE had Oba do on Raw today was pretty perfect. In today’s King of the Ring first round Fatal 4way, Femi was initially tied up with Solo Sikoa (who was in the match) and MFT Talla Tonga (who was not). But after Solo decided to mock Oba’s strut, he’d had enough. Be careful who you mock, Solo! The RULER is ANGRY!! pic.twitter.com/k1r8ePq4lN — WWE (@WWE) June 1, 2026 And once he turned his attention to the match, it was even worse news for Sikoa, Carmelo Hayes, and Intercontinental champ Penta. He rolled through all of them en route to giving Solo a thunderous Fall From Grace to score the pin and advance to face the winner of Dom Mysterio vs. Bron Breakker vs. Trick Williams vs. Damian Priest. We don’t know when that match or the semis will be yet, but we do know that Femi got on the mic and let Lesnar and the entire world know that he can bounce back from an ass-kicking, and that he’s looking forward to continuing to hand those out to anyone who gets in his way — even Brock. "I'll see you down the line" 👀@Obaofwwe with a MESSAGE for Brock Lesnar! pic.twitter.com/THimGoIpXZ — WWE (@WWE) June 1, 2026 Tell us what you thought of Oba Femi’s bounce back today in the comments below. We’ve got the internet’s best live blogger on the job for you, even with an earlier start time. The Raw live blog is here.

Raw airs tonight (June 1) with a live show emanating from Inalpi Arena in Turin, Italy. This is the first episode of Raw during the four week build to Night of Champions, which takes place on June 27. Raw has a special start time of 2 pm ET on Netflix. WWE is already setting up Oba Femi for his next loss The King of the Ring tournament officially begins today on Raw. The first round is all about fatal 4-way matches, with the biggest news being that Oba Femi’s name is listed on the bracket. In fact, The Ruler’s opening 4-way match takes place today, where he shares the ring with Solo Sikoa, Carmelo Hayes, and WWE Intercontinental Champion Penta. On paper, Femi should destroy these guys. That’s not a knock of any of them, it’s just that we’ve already seen what Oba can do to Brock Lesnar, and how it took seven F5 finishers to finally hand Oba a loss at Clash In Italy. Femi should probably run the table and dominate the entire tournament, based on how he’s been booked. However, there’s one glaring problem with idea that Oba is the obvious King of the Ring. The winner earns a world title match at SummerSlam, and there isn’t much reason to think WWE is planning Femi vs. World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns or WWE Champion Cody Rhodes on that card. If anything, it looks like Femi’s loss at Clash In Italy was done to set up one final match with Lesnar at SummerSlam. If that’s the case, then Femi has to lose again this month during the King of the Ring tournament. The easiest way to book Oba to lose is today’s 4-way match, where there are no disqualifications. Brock can theoretically strike again to brawl with Femi, leaving the other three guys to determine a winner amongst each other. Alternatively, Femi can bounce back from yesterday’s loss by winning his tournament match today, but then he probably has to lose a one-on-one match in a future round. That’s a little trickier to pull off without him eating another pin. Is The Ruler going to regain his lost momentum by tearing apart Penta, Sikoa, and Melo with ease, or is he about to lose his second match in a 24 hour span? Tune into Raw today to find out. Other stuff to keep an eye on – Jacob Fatu lost Tribal Combat against World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns, which means he has to either acknowledge Roman as his Tribal Chief and fall in line as his servant, or GM Adam Pearce will fire him. Fatu seemed just fine with keeping his job in defeat during last week’s promo, so let’s see how eager the neutered Samoan Werewolf is to effectively join the Roman Reigns Kiss My Ass Club tonight. – The Vision desperately needs a new member now that Logan Paul had triceps surgery, and nobody buys Austin Theory as a badass swinging that steel chair. Will Joe Hendry and Angelo Dawkins get some payback on Theory for last week’s brutal attacks, or is a new Vision member lurking in the shadows and ready to strike? – Rey Mysterio beat Rusev last week and earned a future shot at Intercontinental Champion Penta. Will their title match go down at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia, if Penta is bounced from the King of the Ring tournament before then? – LA Knight is getting awfully close to crossing the line with The Usos, and he happens to be booked in a first round KOTR tournament 4-way match against Jey Uso, Royce Keys, and Finn Balor. What will happen if LA and Jey get in each other’s face tonight? – Seth Rollins wants a rematch against Bron Breakker ASAP. Will WWE add a gimmick or stipulation to their next fight, whenever it is officially announced? – Becky Lynch dropped the Women’s Intercontinental Championship to Sol Ruca at Clash In Italy. Will The Man make a bunch of excuses and go after Jessika Carr after her latest loss, or does she have to immediately turn the page to prepare for her Queen of the Ring 4-way match against Alexa Bliss, Chelsea Green, and Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan? What if Carr is the ref for Becky’s tournament opener? – Is Chad Gable returning to Raw today after he unmasked to reveal himself as the Original El Grande Americano at AAA Noche de Los Grandes? Will he fare any better in WWE after having a potential match of the year this past weekend in Mexico? – IYO SKY’s opening match in the Queen of the Ring tournament is against Giulia, Lash Legend, and Roxanne Perez. Can any of them stop her from making it to a world title match at SummerSlam? – Who does Ethan Page have to beat to earn another Intercontinental title match? Maybe Je’Von Evans? – Has WWE figured out what the hell they’re doing with AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio? He can always win the King of the Ring tournament, where his opening round 4-way match is against Bron Breakker, Trick Williams, and Damian Priest. – Will Danhausen and Santino Marella team up tonight to curse some poor jabroni and take them out with The Cobra? – Where the f*** is CM Punk? Will he return to WWE in time to apologize to the government of Saudi Arabia again at Night of Champions? What will you be looking for on Raw?

OMAHA, NEBRASKA - MAY 4: Oba Femi makes his entrance during Monday Night RAW at the CHI Health Center on May 4, 2026 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Melina Pizano/WWE via Getty Images) | WWE via Getty Images News was promised on the Clash in Italy Post Show today (Sun., May 31, 2026), and news was delivered in the form of brackets for this year’s WWE King and Queen of the Ring tournaments. Timely, as those tournaments start tomorrow on Raw, which will be back in Turin’s Inali Arena, the site of today’s premium live event. First round matches will be 4ways, with the four winners of those advancing to one-on-one semi-finals, and finals. The finals will take place in Saudi Arabia on June 27 at Night of Champions, the wrestlers who end up wearing the crowns will get a World title shot at SummerSlam the first weekend in August. For King of the Ring, we know the opener will feature Oba Femi, fresh off being F5-ed seven times by Brock Lesnar on PLE to set-up a trilogy with the retired Beast. He’ll have to take out the current Intercontinental champion and two former United States champions to make it to round two. The ruler’s side of the bracket is: Oba Femi vs. Penta vs. Solo Sikoa vs. Carmelo Hayes Dominik Mysterio vs. Bron Breakker vs. Trick Williams vs. Damian Priest The other side features a pair of former World champions. Seth Rollins will have to deal with a trio of recent signees and rising stars, while Jey Uso gets a more veteran trio of opponents with only one a new member of the roster: Seth Rollins vs. Je’von Evans vs. Talla Tonga vs. Ricky Saints Jey Uso vs. LA Knight vs. Royce Keys vs. Finn Balor Make your picks, Cagesiders!