Penta on WWE RAW: ‘Now It’s The Penta New Era’

The big kickoff for John Cena last week culminated in him announcing his intention to break Ric Flair’s record (16) for most world titles held/won. Most expected when Cena made his retirement run announcement that he would finally snap that record, but he teased us on how he might secure that shot by announcing himself for the Royal Rumble—it should be noted he casually dropped Elimination Chamber and Money in the Bank as opportunities he could explore assuming he loses the Rumble. Then, on SmackDown this past week, Paul Heyman announced Roman Reigns has declared for the Rumble after ‘finishing’ his quest to regain the Ula Fala from Solo.

On Monday night, CM Punk also affirmed that he would throw his name into an already-stacked Royal Rumble. As Cena, Roman, and now Punk vie for the WrestleMania main event golden ticket, it is setting the stage for the most competitive and unpredictable Royal Rumble possibly ever.

Before Punk, who acknowledged the brave firefighters battling the California fires in his opening line, was interrupted by Seth Rollins as he visualized the famed Mania sign hanging over the arena that the winner will point to following the Rumble. They continued to bicker until Drew McIntyre also announced himself for the Rumble—warning both men in the ring that the real enemy is Roman Reigns playing ‘chess and not checkers.’

Back Stage Drama

Seth confronted Sami Zayn backstage, accusing him of preparing to help Roman Reigns in the Rumble. Seth clearly took McIntyre’s words to heart, and now it appears as though Monday Night Rollins is setting his own board as the Rumble nears.

Cero Miedo

Cole called it ‘the worst kept secret in the business’ in one of his best lines ever before calling Penta a ‘close second-best Luchador behind Rey Mysterio Jr. Tonight was not the original plan. The success of Motor City Machine Guns was originally planned for The Lucha Bros — brothers Penta and Rey Fenix – until contract issues with AEW derailed the idea of them debuting as a tag team. Then, last week, Gable demanded to face ‘the best luchador’ that GM Adam Pearce could find, leading virtually everyone to expect Penta’s debut.

If all that wasn’t evident enough, WWE launched Penta’s merch drop earlier in the day—all but announcing him for tonight’s match. The crowd was undoubtedly prepared as Penta received the ovation that WWE expected from an arena filled with a Hispanic fan base that knew precisely what they’d get from this match.

The crowd was set to welcome Penta by chanting his ‘Cero Miedo,’ but it was cut off early by Gable to gain heat. For his effort, Gable received the ‘You Suck’ chant that is typically reserved for Kurt Angle (a fellow Olympic medalist in wrestling). Gable maintained a competitive advantage in the match that was far from a squash. But when Gable went for the flying headbutt, he missed it, and yet Penta received a belly-to-belly suplex into the turnbuckle for his trouble.

The match was far from the style we are used to seeing from Penta as he was clearly molded into the WWE TV match, and still, Penta was on the bad end of some spots—including a front flip to the outside that seemed to take a bigger toll on Penta than Gable.

Penta delivered the win against Gable on his debut, and then he was given the mic to give an English-spoken promo. He claimed WWE is his home now and that the truth is he has been waiting for this moment before breaking into Spanish to thank fans in both Mexico and America. He then thanked his family in the front row before claiming that this is not just the new WWE era but also the ‘new Penta era’ before finally delivering his catchphrase: Ciero Miedo! Rey Mysterio was interviewed later in the night and put over Penta big time to the crowd’s cheers. That said, WWE has to be planning for these two incredible superstars to face off either at Mania or another ‘Big 4’ PLE.

Gunther Gets A Challenger

Gunther came out to cut a promo on the lack of importance shown to his title—he’s not wrong. He is currently the only world titlist without a match set for the Feb 1 PLE, as it was announced weeks ago that Cody Rhodes would defend his blue-branded world title against Kevin Owens in a ladder match.

It would end up being Jey Uso who would answer the call, but he is not waiting for the Rumble. Jey challenged Gunther for the title shot at Saturday Night’s Main Event in San Antonio on January 25—one week before the Rumble. Jey said that, with McIntyre and The Bloodline behind him, he is looking to earn his respect. However, Gunther called him a ‘great tag team’ artist who is out of his league. That is when Jey dug deep and exposed a genuine vulnerability in front of the crowd—admitting that he felt those feelings of doubt without his family behind him, but it would not hold him back from becoming the heavyweight champion at SNME.

Women’s Inaugural Intercontinental Title: Lyra Valkyria vs. Dakota Kai

Bayley, now the #1 contender for Tiffany Straton’s women’s world title, hyped the match before it started during a ringside interview. She said the two would tear down the house and acknowledged the historical significance of this match. They went back and forth exchanging offense, and though there were a few sloppy exchanges, both women excelled in spots. Kai had the momentum toward the match’s final sequences, but it was Lyra’s innovative offense that made the difference, and she walked out of the match as the first-ever women’s IC champ.

Main Event: Damian Priest vs. Finn Balor—Street Fight

RAW’s main event was a ‘street fight’ between Finn Balor and his nemesis Damian Priest, which was a continuation of their long-running feud. Oddly enough, WWE barely touched on the most interesting aspect of The Judgement Day—Dom Mysterio’s attempted betrayal of Liv following her loss to Rhea last week. Dom tried to hug Rhea and reconcile their romance, but he was rebuffed with extreme prejudice after a brief segment where Dom attempted to smooth things over with Liv by giving her roses. Liv assured Dom she was not mad but clearly was after demanding Dom get her bags from the car.

There was little hype during the night for the main event, which was vaguely acknowledged in the lead-up to the third hour. Balor and Priest kicked the match into high gear at the very start—leading to Priest and Balor to the biggest spot of the night as both men crashed through a table from Priest delivering a ‘Broken Arrow’ from second level balcony.

The match hit the pause button as paramedics placed Balor on a stretcher with a neck brace. They were taking him out of the arena when a fight broke out between Priest and the rest of TJD. After Priest was forced to deal with Finn’s goons, the two returned to square one. Priest sent Balor through another table, this time with the “Razor’s Edge,” and the crowd broke into a ‘this is awesome chant.’ Priest hit the ‘South of Heaven’ for the win over Balor to send RAW home with half an hour before the clock struck 11 pm ET.

Other Tidbits/ In-Ring Action

Sheamus vs. Ludwig Kaiser

The match was booked last week following a feud between these two superstars, and it feels like it’s been going on since Sheamus returned from injury. It was a physical match that left both men red-chested. The two men told a great story and Sheamus was able to take the victory. Then, the veteran Irelander got in the face of Intercontinental champion Bron Breakker, who is nearly three months into his second reign as IC champ. It was later announced that Sheamus and Breakker would face off for the IC title at SNME in San Antonio a week before the Rumble.

• The New Day continues to operate without a real feud despite the magnitude of heat they created for themselves. They complained about being forced to change in boiler rooms and other random areas outside the boy’s locker room after ‘locker room leader’ Rey Mysterio confronted the two men following their heel turn on Big E. They claimed that they would return to action next week and it seems like Mysterio may end up being the target for the self-proclaimed ‘best tag team in the world.’
• Rhea came out to get her flowers following her title win over Liv last week. Yet, Nia Jax came out to bait Bayley into coming into the ring with both current and former world champions. Nia called her ‘BBL Bayley’ before Bayley went face to face with her. Bayley caught a right from Nia in her hometown of San Jose, but Rhea would help her take Nia out before the two faces dapped it up. There is zero direction, it seems, other than Nia interfering in Bayley’s title match against Tiffany this Friday.
• It was announced that JBL will be in the building next week in Dallas, Texas—the host city for January 20.