On Saturday, the latest Saturday Night’s Main Event will be held at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC. John Cena will have his last match against Gunther, after the latter won the Last Time is Now Tournament. It was also announced that main roster wrestlers will be fighting wrestlers from NXT. Last week on Friday Night SmackDown, Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes told NXT Champion Ricky Saints and his challenger Oba Femi that the winner of their match and Deadline would face him. At Deadline, Femi defeated Saints to take back his NXT Championship. Rhodes vs. Femi was confirmed, exciting fans for what’s going to be a great match. Regarding the result, there are many reasons why Femi should be the guy getting his hand raised at the end.
Femi should beat Rhodes in Saturday’s match because that will show the main roster audience how dominant and powerful he has been in NXT. Since debuting at Spring Breakin’ 2023, he has shown off his explosive power and strong wrestling abilities. Those qualities have gotten him many achievements in NXT. He won the 2023 Men’s Breakout Tournament, became NXT North American Champion, and is now on his second reign as NXT Champion. A resume like that should set him up for success on the main roster. He’s clearly over with the audience at the Performance Center, as they love to chant his name and go “HOO!” instead of the popular “WHAT?” that gets on people’s nerves. If he outright loses to Rhodes, that would make him look bad, as he’s clearly being set up to be the future of WWE.
After Je’Von Evans won the men’s Iron Survivor Challenge, a staredown took place between him and Femi. It didn’t last long, as Tony D’Angelo returned and attacked Evans before staring down Femi himself. The last two times they’ve faced off, D’Angelo won. He probably thinks this is the easiest pathway to become NXT Champion. Having Femi lose to Rhodes will give him a tremendous disadvantage against D’Angelo when they meet again. Evans is tentatively facing him at New Year’s Evil. But as always in wrestling, no match is official until the competitors are in the ring. There’s a high chance the match could turn into a triple threat, or Evans could be taken out before then. A statement victory from Femi could scare D’Angelo off for the time being so he can focus solely on Evans.
The final reason why Femi should beat Rhodes is to show Drew McIntyre that the latter is beatable. Rhodes and McIntyre are currently in a heated feud and at some point, an Undisputed WWE Championship match will be made official. For years now, McIntyre has been unable to capture a title in WWE after many controversial match endings. Even his fans are starting to become angry, wondering if he will ever get a title run in front of fans. Rhodes defeating Femi would not only hurt the latter, but McIntyre as well. Having Rhodes lose gives McIntyre more confidence in their title match whenever it takes place. Watching him lose WarGames and a non-title match within weeks of each other will greatly motivate McIntyre. Femi winning will give fans hope that McIntyre has a chance of beating Rhodes to become Undisputed WWE Champion.