NXT New Year’s Evil saw the crowining of Oba Femi as the new NXT Champion after pinning Trick Williams to capture the title. NXT sure does love a Black Champion, and I am here for it.
We can debate how well Black wrestlers do on the main roster in terms of holding gold, or even being featured in storylines. It has gotten better, but still spotty at best. Particularly on the male end of things. We must acknowledge The New Day becoming the top heels on Raw, and Carmello Haynes bumping between main roster feuds with big name talent. Pulling featured time on camera is always a positive. Outside of that, Apollo Crew and R Truth continues to play a support role in stories. The Street Profits’ start-and-stop momentum continues to hamper their progress towards gold. Lest we forget the “team” of Cedric Alexander and Ashante “Thee” Adonis who are technically part of Smackdown, but lose on NXT.
These title reigns and featured spots are determinded by who is the most over. That goes to the Cody’s and LA Knights of the world. While the main WWE roster struggles to cultivate thier male Black talent into top starts, NXT remains a beacon of Black Representation. The sheer number of Black champions the NXT brand has produced over the years is leaps and bounds above the main roster.
A quick sprint through Black Champions of NXT
Alow me to run down a quick list of former Black champions from NXT off the top of my head. Oba Femi, Trick Williams, Carmello Hayes, Keith Lee, Wes Lee, Swerve Scott, and Big E. I may have missed 1 or 2 (I definitely excluded at least one). I didn’t even cover the women like Bianca BelAir and Kelani Jordan. Stretched over the life of NXT as a legitimate wrestling brand, that’s an impressive number. Especially in contrast to WWE, who’s last Black champion was Bobby Lashley holding the United States Championship.
The best part about the list of NXT Black champions is it was organic. These talents are upcoming stars and putting them at the top of the NXT mountain makes the most sense. They just so happen to be Black at the same time.
Why does it stop at NXT?
My question remains, why does all that potential not translate to the main roster? With Carmello Hayes going as Smackdown’s number one pick last year, he has not cracked the barrier into the main event. He continues to put on fabulous matches, with special mention to his Best of 7 series with Andrade. The Street Profits, one of NXT’s best championship teams, has gone without gold, or a meaningful story for years now. They continue to circle the belts and breakout stardom, falling victim to needless loses and abandoned plotlines. Keith Lee, prior to his exit to AEW, me tthe same fate. He carried all the good will and momentumn in the world as the NXT double champ over to the main roster. Only to be hamstrung with injuries, abandoned pushes (anyone remember his showdown with Roman at Survivor Series) the lazy “Bearcat” gimmick and shuffled into obscurity before getting released. Big E fared better, but only after teaming with two other neglected Black superstars to form The New Day.
All hail the Lion, Oba Femi
Oba Femi is a breakout, powerhouse talent, on the same path as GUNTHER to be a standout, old-school style wrestler. In 2025, it’s only righ to hand the Lion the crown and the keyes ot the NXT Kingdom. Does this signal Trick Williams’ move to the main roster? I don’t think so but with Raw on Netflix and Trick’s former friend getting more airtime on Smackdown, a call up in ’25 is possible. In the meantime, Oba sould have a dominant, entertaining reign as NXT Champion, like his North American Championship run before this. I am excited to see it, and more excited for his inclusion in WWE 2K25, which is inevitable at this point.
Black Wrestling Matters
Wrestlers are basically superheroes. They are titans who pull off death-defying maneuvers for the entertainment of fans. Because of this, they fall squarely within the crosshairs of Super. Black. meaning our mantra of “Representation Matters” applies to wrestling by the transitive property. That was a lot of words to say its important to see Black champions in wrestling. There is a whole generation of new Black wrestlers coming. Seeing the Oba Femi’s, Bianca Bel Airs, Jade Cargills, Kelani Jordans, Trick Williams’, and New Days of wrestling prove that with hard work, you can be a true superstar. Granted, I am only referencing WWE here. There are incredible Black champions in other promotions as well. Moose in TNA and Swerve in AEW jump to mind immediately. But WWE is different, its a cultural institution. One with more clout, history, and influence than any other wrestling promotion. It’s the big show, and seeing Black stars make it on the big show remains important and exciting.
Anyone else excited for Oba Femi Vs GUNTHER for the WWE Title at some point in the future? I smell a 2K25 match coming on.
