Oba Femi called it a privilege to perform at John Cena\'s retirement match at Saturday Night\'s Main Event, and said the symbolism of that moment resonates with him. He spoke about the experience on the No-Contest Wrestling Podcast.
\"It was a feeling of privilege for sure because that is another short list, the number of people who got to perform at John Cena\'s retirement match. It\'s very symbolic that John\'s end is my beginning and that fact I kind of enjoy. I was really hoping to work with John, I was really hoping and praying that like don\'t go, don\'t go too fast. But he did. I was really hoping to work with him, especially when a lot of people were like putting fire under the idea of me being the one to retire him.\
John Cena\'s \"Look At Me Moments\" Advice
Cena gave Femi specific advice that stuck: create memorable crowd interactions when the opponent is down.
\"He\'s very big on look at me moments, crowd interaction and look at me moments. He told me that he understands that NXT is a very fast-paced style of wrestling because that\'s what Shawn wants. But at the same time, he encouraged me to when the opponent is down, I should always take my time to interact with the crowd and do something that will be memorable to them so they can always remember me. So that\'s one of the things that John said to me that stuck. That was a pretty big one amongst many other things, but that was the big takeaway.\
Cena\'s Humility: \"One of the Boys\"
After the show, Cena returned to the locker room and shared a final toast with the roster.
\"A lot of people don\'t know this, but maybe they do. But after the show, John came back to the locker room, big star, big shot John Cena. But he came back to the locker room with all the boys and he shared one last toast and took shots with us. And I\'m glad that I got to be a part of that. It really showed how humble he was that no matter how big he got in WWE or in Hollywood, he was at his core still just one of the boys.\
Saturday Night\'s Main Event vs. Royal Rumble
Femi said Saturday Night\'s Main Event felt like his true first big-stage moment, while the Royal Rumble debut surprised him.
\"The Saturday night\'s main event was the very first one. And like this is the first time I\'m on that big stage, on that big platform. So I was really glad that the crowd was rocking on my stuff. I would have to say it\'s the first one. The Rumble debut was more of a pleasant surprise. I didn\'t think the Saudi crowd would be hip to the Ruler\'s stuff. So shout out to the Saudi crowd. I slept on them. I slept on the Saudi crowd. But yeah, they were there.\
