The Undertaker has long been an admirer of WWE star Omos and wishes he could get in the ring with The Nigerian Giant.
The towering performer has plenty of admirers in the wrestling industry, not least Mark Calaway, who played the Undertaker character for three decades.
The powerhouse, who signed for the company in 2019, has enjoyed some high-profile moments, not least working against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania in 2023.
His WWE stardom comes years after early struggles to break into the basketball world having journeyed to the US on his own at the age of just 15.
Featuring on Undertaker’s popular Six Feet Under podcast, Omos, real name Tolulope Omogbehin, told the story of attending a camp staged by Toronto Raptors chief Masai Ujiri roughly two years prior.
Desperate to make his way in the sporting world, he was almost thwarted at the sign-up process – for being too tall.
The 30-year-old explained: “The General Manger of the Toronto Raptors, Masai Ujiri, back when he was a Scout for the Denver Nuggets, he used to run a camp called the Nigeria Top 50.
“He would go to all the NBA players and say: ‘Hey, we have kids back home in Nigeria who need shoes’
“NBA players would get between five and 20 pairs of sneakers a season and when the season’s done, they’d toss them out. He’d say: ‘Give me the sneakers, there are kids back home who don’t have shoes.’
“I remember the first time I went to the camp; I was 13 years old, and I had like one shoe that was pretty beat up, I was growing so fast.
“I walked up to the registration, and they go: ‘Who are you?’ I said: ‘My name’s Tolu,’ he goes: ‘how old are you?.’ I’m like: ‘I’m 13.’
“He goes: ‘No way!’ and I think at this time I’m around six [feet] seven, at 13. I remember he goes: ‘No, no, you’re lying, do you have proof?’ because, back home, a lot of people lied about their age.
“Luckily enough for me, my aunt worked at the facility hosting the camp [and] thank god almighty she was working that day!”
Omos, today billed by WWE as standing in excess of seven feet tall and weighing over 300lbs, was able to call on his aunt for reinforcement. She vouched for the starlet and joked his towering presence was because ‘he’d eaten all the food in the house.’
He went on to add: “They looked at me and go: ‘Holy s***!’ and put me in the camp, and that camp pretty much changed my life.”
Though Omos never secured an NBA career, he did play University basketball before his transition into the world of professional wrestling.
He made his televised debut in 2020 and featured steadily up to his feud with Lesnar and, after, Seth Rollins, but has seen his on-screen presence stall in more recent months.
That’s to the amazement of The Undertaker who, while appreciating that WWE are now valuing the asset of Omos more rather than wasting it on low-profile storylines, wishes he could get involved himself.
“I see so many qualities in you that I appreciate. I just wish that I was still around!
“If I was still working, man, it would be worse because I would be grooming you to be an opponent.
“We’d have year-long run at least. “You’re in a situation now where it’s kind of crazy. There’s nobody for you to work with, [but] you’ve got to play the patience game, and we’ve talked about that.
“They’ve realised now [that] they’re protecting you enough now, but before, it was: ‘So-and-so needs an opponent, let’s [have them] beat our giant.’ You’re kidding me.”
Omos hasn’t wrestled a singles match in WWE since March and hasn’t featured in a televised singles bout since losing to Rollins in May 2023.
