Oba Femi Awaits First Challenger on May 4 Raw
Oba Femi awaited his first challenger to his open challenge on the May 4, 2026 episode of WWE Raw, a night built around multiple advertised segments at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The show started at 8 p.m. ET on Netflix and stayed tied to the road toward WWE Backlash.
CHI Health Center in Omaha
Monday’s Raw placed Oba at the center of the card’s most direct in-ring test. His open challenge sat alongside Finn Balor and JD McDonagh’s rematch after their last encounter was cut short two weeks earlier, plus a scheduled appearance for Seth Rollins and CM Punk.
Sol Ruca was also set to sign her kayfabe contract on the May 4 episode, giving the show a second live-decision beat around which the rest of the card had to be built. WWE used the same episode to keep the Backlash push moving while still loading the broadcast with individual segments that could pull attention from one another.
Balor, McDonagh, and Backlash
The competing pitch on the night was volume. WWE Raw offered Oba’s challenge, the Balor-McDonagh rematch, the Ruca contract signing, and advertised appearances from Rollins and Punk on one broadcast, which meant his first challenger had to land in a crowded segment order rather than on a standalone special.
That is where the tension sat: Oba’s open challenge promised a direct answer on the night, but the card itself was stacked with other live hooks, including Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu signing a contract for their Backlash title match. The show did not ask viewers to follow one storyline; it asked them to track several at once.
Ethan Page and Rusev
Ethan Page and Rusev defeated Penta and Je’Von Evans, adding another result to a show that mixed promised appearances with in-ring outcomes. WWE also posted, “OBA!! OBA!! OBA!! The Ruler is UNSTOPPABLE@Obaofwwe /ne97w8q94N” and “BREAKKING ROLLINS IN HALF ?@bronbreakkerwwe lays out Seth Rollins for the second time tonight! /70REXLpqO5,” underlining how much of the night was driven by live in-ring action rather than one long closing angle.
For viewers, the useful takeaway was simple: Oba Femi’s challenge was not being handled as a separate special attraction. It was folded into a crowded Raw built to advance Backlash while forcing the audience to watch for several turning points at once, and that made his first challenger the segment most likely to shift the rest of the broadcast’s pacing.
