Oba Femi Explains How He Deals With the Pressure Of Performing In WWE

On a recent episode of her podcast, “What’s Your Story? With Stephanie McMahon,”  Oba Femi discussed his early beginnings before WWE, dealing with pressure and more. Femi is in a high-pressure situation as he will challenge Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 42.

Femi talked about how he learned to deal with pressure doing shot put and how it translates to the WWE ring. Here are the highlights:

On his Early Beginnings:

“I was a thrower. I threw shot put for like eight years before I came to the WWE. And in my eight-year journey, we’d have our home base training ring. And then of course, when you compete, you’re somewhere else, and you use another ring.”

On Dealing With Pressure:

“Every ring is never the same. They build it slicker or there’s more friction, so it’s never the same. The shot put ring. My coach made me understand, ‘Listen, it’s the same size, it’s the same everything. You just have to go there and execute. Pretend like we’re in practice.’

“And that’s something that I started doing. I was like, ‘Okay, this is the SEC Championships? No, this is practice, let’s go throw.’ That was my mindset, just attack it like it’s any other day. And I think it’s helped me a lot. It takes a lot of the pressure off my back, and I’ve carried that same thing to the WWE ring as well. I spent three years in the Performance Center. It’s the same size ring whether its 400 (people) here at the PC, 600 at a live event, or 16,000 at Stand & Deliver, it didn’t matter to me. So the only way I can really perform is if I pretend like we’re just at the PC.”

On His Goals:

“Since day one that I walked into NXT, I knew that, ‘Okay, I want to sound real. I want to be real. I want to make people feel things, I want to give and then take it away. And I want them to go on that ride with me.’ That’s what I want to do in wrestling. I mean, championships and conquest is going to come. You know, The Ruler is The Ruler. But I think that’s my big takeaway. I think that’s — like when I’m done, I want people to feel Oba Femi.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit the What’s Your Story? With Stephanie McMahon podcast with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.