The Goldberg Trap: Why WWE’s Overpowered Booking of Oba Femi Could Backfire

Oba Femi get the pin at Money in the Bank vs Bronson Reed. Courtesy of ESPN

There is a razor-thin line in professional wrestling between building an unstoppable juggernaut and creating a superhero so invulnerable that the entire division collapses beneath him. Following Money in the Bank, WWE creative officially crossed that line with Oba Femi.

What started as an electric, powerhouse ascent has rapidly devolved into the very trap many feared: WWE has turned Oba Femi into modern-day Goldberg. While dominant runs produce quick pops and spectacle in the short term, the long-term fallout from booking a talent to be this overpowered risks doing irreversible damage to the character, the locker room, and the stories WWE wants to tell.

Devaluing the Roster: The Bronson Reed Problem

Oba Femi take down Bronson Reed. Courtesy of WWE

The core issue was laid bare in Femi’s clash against Bronson Reed at Money in the Bank.

Reed is not a cruiserweight; he is one of WWE’s premier heavyweight monsters. During the match, Reed struck Femi with brass knuckles not once, but twice, followed immediately by his protected top-rope finisher, the Tsunami. In any standard wrestling psychology, that sequence is a guaranteed three-count or, at the very least, a debilitating blow that requires an opponent to scrape by on pure survival instincts.

Instead, Femi kicked out, got right back up, and finished Reed off as if the entire assault was a minor inconvenience.

When a superstar can absorb foreign objects to the face and a 330-pound finisher without showing vulnerability, you have stopped building a compelling champion and started writing cartoon physics. Worse, it devalues the monsters tasked with opposing him. The Vision and Reed threw every dirty trick in the book at Femi, and by brushing it off effortlessly, Femi didn't just win—he made the rest of the division look small.

The Corner WWE Creative Painted Themselves Into

When an unstoppable force runs through an entire roster without needing help or facing genuine peril, creative immediately runs out of road.

• No Credible Threats Left on Raw: Every viable gatekeeper or physical roadblock has been handled with ease. There is no heel on Monday nights whom fans can genuinely believe has a chance to beat him clean or dirty.

• Forced Timelines: By blowing through the division so fast, WWE has prematurely backed itself into a corner. After Money in the Bank, Femi immediately called out Roman Reigns. That showdown was reportedly meant to be protected and nurtured as a marquee program for WrestleMania. Now, because there is literally no one else left for Oba to feud with without feeling like a massive step down, creative may have no choice but to pull the trigger early.

• No Room for Storytelling Drama: Drama requires stakes, and stakes require the possibility of failure. If the audience knows that even loaded punches and top-tier finishers cannot keep a wrestler down, the drama in his matches evaporates before the bell rings.

The Long-Term Backlash on Oba Femi

Oba Femi and Bronson Reed stand toe-to-toe at Money in the Bank. Courtesy of WWE

The greatest danger of the "Goldberg treatment" is what happens when the armor finally cracks.

Fans inevitably grow numb to invincible booking. Once the thrill of sheer destruction wears off, indifference sets in, followed closely by audience rejection. When WWE eventually decides that Femi must lose, whether to Roman Reigns or anyone else down the line, how do you book it without it looking absurd? If two brass-knuckle shots and a Tsunami can’t finish him, what can?

WWE creative needs to remember that a monster’s aura is defined by the obstacles he overcomes, not the absence of them. By stripping away vulnerability, WWE hasn't made Oba Femi more interesting, they've just left themselves with nowhere to go except handing him a Jackhammer and waiting for the audience to turn.

The Verdict on WWE's Booking of Oba Femi

If WWE wants Oba Femi to be a lasting cornerstone rather than a short-lived novelty, creative must inject humanity and adversity back into his journey before fan fatigue takes hold. Dominance creates intrigue, but vulnerability builds legends. Without stakes, even the most imposing juggernaut will eventually hit a wall—and the harder the fall, the tougher it is to rebuild the aura.

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