Oba Femi: John Cena Told Me, ‘Learn To Pick Your Battles’
John Cena’s time was up at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event as he competed in his final match against Gunther. The time for Oba Femi might be now as he faced Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes at the event.
Before retiring, Cena made frequent trips to NXT to speak to the future of the business.
Speaking to David Shoemaker & Kazeem Famuyide on Ringer Wrestling, Oba was asked about his interactions with Cena and if he received any advice.
“I’ve had the privilege of sharing a few words with John. Not that much. He’s held seminars at NXT, but those are always more general topics and not particular. The few times I’ve gone to talk to him one-on-one, it’s been very insightful. He thinks about this very differently, obviously. Number one, different era. Number two, different levels in which we do these things. While everyone is thinking about what move I’m going to do next he’s thinking of, ‘Why are we fighting? How is this going to make them feel? How do we want to make them feel? What do they take away from this segment?’ Even the minute details of promos. When you’re that intentional about your craft, that’s a different level.
“John has told me a bunch of things. The one that stuck with me was, he said, ‘You have to learn to pick your battles.’ He is always real about this job. He’s kept it real, 100%. ‘You have to pick your battles. You have to know when to fight.’ That, I appreciate. There are so many people in wrestling who are like, ‘Just do what they say.’ John believes in not just the character, but the person behind the character, especially when you worked to create that character in the first place. There are a lot of people who go home and craft what is going to be their body of work. You can’t always let that go to what the people want or what the people in the back said. He’s very intentional about that stuff. I appreciate his advice.”
The bout between Oba and Cody ended in a DQ when Drew McIntyre interfered and attacked Cody.
Fans can find Fightful’s coverage of WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event here. Check out the post-show podcast for a full review here.
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