Why Oba Femi losing to Tony D'Angelo wasn't a good creative booking?

Oba Femi lost his NXT North American Championship to Tony D'Angelo in the latest episode of NXT. After the feud was scripted, not many would have expected Tony to end Femi's reign easily. The story was not ready to take off, and Femi was dethroned by Toni. It seemed like a rushed booking, and the fans were not too happy with it.

The most dominant NXT North American Champion of all time ended up losing to someone who feared him, had doubts about himself, and did not believe in himself to be the one to end the reign of the star wrestler. Their story had Oba as the most dominant NXT North American Champion.

In such a scenario, one would like to have an extended feud where Tony D'Angelo would prove himself to be a worthy candidate to end the incredible streak of Oba, but that wasn't the case. It seemed like Tony won the title out of nowhere after being regarded as an unconfident individual.

Oba Femi's similarities in booking with Gunther

The creative team needed to give the duo time to establish the feud. Oba Femi was made look weak as he lost to someone who feared the champion. A month or two to give the necessary hype for Tony to beat Femi would have led to a better dethroning.

It seemed like the creative team wanted to take the belt off Femi as soon as he became the longest-reigning NXT North American Champion. Agreed that his feud with Trick Williams would be the one to watch out for. However, his reign as the NXT North American Champion was nothing short of legendary.

The end of such reigns must not be rushed. It seemed like Tony was handed the belt a bit too early. It is a similar booking to the one the creative team had for Gunther against Sami Zayn at WrestleMania XL. In both instances, the challengers popped out of nowhere and upset the champions to claim the title.