Paul Heyman shut down ‘ECW’ chants during the WWE SummerSlam 2026 Kickoff event with a jab aimed squarely at Oba Femi.
Heyman appeared during the SummerSlam 2026 Kickoff event on July 19 to hype the Hell in a Cell match between Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi. When fans broke into ECW chants, Heyman dismissed them and turned his attention to Femi, who quickly emerged to answer.
ECW is dead and I wish the same for Oba Femi.
The remark set up a face-to-face standoff, with The Ruler vowing to end their rivalry inside Hell in a Cell.
Femi didn’t hold back, accusing Heyman of dodging him for weeks and daring him to stick around.
You’ve done enough talking, and you’ve done enough running. So who is ready for SummerSlam? Who is ready for Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar? Who is ready for Hell in a Cell? You don’t even have the guts to stand right here while I walk out,” Femi said.
He then promised two very different versions of himself heading into the event.
But today you get the casual Oba, the nice Oba, Oba in jeans, Oba hugging babies, kissing foreheads, smiling with the fans. But come Hell in a Cell, you get the warrior Oba, the king Oba, the destroyer Oba, the bringer of war, in all my glory, Oba Femi,” he said.
Lesnar vs. Femi Set For Hell In A Cell
The Hell in a Cell match between Lesnar and Femi is set to go down in a feud built on months of beatdowns and heated encounters.
The friction has been building for weeks. Femi previously ran through security in a chaotic Raw segment tied to Heyman’s attempts to avoid him, detailed in this earlier report on the restraining-order angle.
SummerSlam 2026 runs as a two-night event on August 1 and 2, 2026 from U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, marking the first time the show expands across two nights. The Lesnar-Femi clash is billed among the top attractions.
