The Ruler of NXT, Oba Femi, made his presence felt tonight on WWE SmackDown.

During the opening segment of SmackDown night, WWE Champion Cody Rhodes was interrupted by his Saturday Night’s Main Event opponent, NXT Champion Oba Femi.

THE RULER IS HERE!!! ?@Obaofwwe pic.twitter.com/dw2PMzgiNI

The American Nightmare was very much focused on Drew McIntyre before Femi interrupted Rhodes’ promo. Femi made it clear that Rhodes does not need to worry about McIntyre right now, and he needs to focus on him.

Oba Femi informs Rhodes that the future is now and that, in the words of John Cena, his time is up and his time is now. Rhodes is quick to remind Femi that he’s the one who beat Cena for the WWE Championship.

Rhodes tries to walk past Femi, but is stopped. The two men each hold up their respective titles in a staredown before Cody makes his exit.

The crowd was very hot for Femi’s appearance and knew a lot of the appropriate crowd calls that you would typically hear from him in NXT. This is a good sign for Femi’s future on the main roster.

Check out WrestleZone’s live coverage of tonight’s episode of SmackDown by clicking here.

WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event is set to take place on December 13, 2025, at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC.

Here is the announced card for this weekend’s event: