Oba Femi captured the WWE NXT Championship during this week’s New Year’s Evil show, and the Ruler also made history in the process. Femi dethroned Trick Williams to win the gold in a triple-threat match that also included Eddy Thorpe.

With his win, Femi has become the fifth Black WWE NXT Champion. This means that WWE has now crowned more black NXT Champions than have ever held the WWE Championship. Femi follows in the footsteps of former champions Big E (2012), Keith Lee (2019), Carmelo Hayes (2022), and Trick Williams (2022). WWE has crowned four black WWE Champions: The Rock, Kofi Kingston, Bobby Lashley, and Big E.

Femi’s win was also only the 2nd time in WWE history that a brand’s main title changed hands between two black men. The only time this previously happened came in late 2021 when Big E won the WWE Championship from Bobby Lashley.

Here is how WWE NXT Champions break down by nationality:

Nationality	No. Of Champions	Champions
American	13	Seth Rollins, Big E, Bo Dallas, Samoa Joe*, Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Adam Cole, Keith Lee, Karrion Kross, Bron Breakker, Dolph Ziggler, Carmelo Hayes, Trick Williams
English	1	Adrian Neville
Canadian	4	Sami Zayn*, Kevin Owens, Bobby Roode, Ethan Page
Syrian	1	Sami Zayn*
Irish	1	Finn Balor
Samoan	1	Samoa Joe*
Japanese	1	Shinsuke Nakamura
Mexican	1	Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas
Dutch	1	Aleister Black
Russian	1	Ilja Dragunov
Scottish	1	Drew McIntyre
Nigerian	1	Oba Femi

Stay tuned to SEScoops for the latest on Oba Femi, as the new NXT Champion is ready to carry the silver brand into a new era in 2025.