Penta's Forgotten World Championship Reign

• Penta spent several years in AEW, where he won tag titles with Rey Fenix and Pac.
• Penta also performed in AAA and Lucha Underground.
• He once had a match with Chelsea Green.

When Penta signed with WWE in 2025, it was a huge get for wrestling's most famous company. Thanks to his several-year run in AEW, even casual fans knew who the luchador was. There from the beginning, Penta only won two titles, winning the AEW World Tag Team Titles with his real-life brother Rey Fenix, and capturing the Trios Championship with Fenix and Pac, who together were called Death Triangle. Hindered, however, by frustrating booking from Tony Khan, Penta was never much of a singles competitor and never won a world title.

At the age of 41, Penta has been around much longer than 2019. His career goes all the way back to 2007, rising up the ranks in places like AAA and in 2014, becoming a centerpiece for the cool new promotion, Lucha Underground. There, Penta got to expand with compelling storylines. He once even had a match against Chelsea Green!

Penta Became the Impact World Champion in TNA

• Impact Wrestling and Lucha Underground worked with each other.
• Penta replaced the fired Alberto El Patron in a title match against Austin Aries.
• He won the world title at the Redemption pay-per-view.

In 2018, TNA had a working relationship with Lucha Underground. Going by Impact Wrestling in an attempt to leave the controversial TNA name behind, Penta and Fenix had a match with Austin Aries, then the Impact World Champion. As proof of how far Penta had risen, he was even booked to win. Then an unfortunate event led to the masked wrestler doing so much more in TNA.

At that year's TNA Redemption pay-per-view, Penta was supposed to face his brother in singles action, while the main event would see Aries putting his title on the line against Albero El Patron (better known as Alberto Del Rio in WWE). However, when El Patron was fired by TNA right before the match, the company needed to come up with a replacement. They found one in Penta. At Redemption, he shocked the world by beating Aries for the Impact World Championship.

After a Successful Defense Against the Future LA Knight, Penta Quickly Lost the Title

• Penta wasn't signed with TNA when he won the Impact World Championship.
• Austin Aries got the gold back just weeks later.
• He and Fenix won the Impact World Tag Team Championship.

Penta stepped up when TNA needed him the most, and it all happened without the luchador even being part of the company. In an interview last year with Chris Van Vliet, Penta said:

"When I won the title in Impact, it was very special for me because, to be honest, I never had a contract with Impact... I enjoyed it because I won my first belt in TNA, in Impact."

It's easy to understand if you never knew that Penta was the Impact World Champion. Not only was the revamped company struggling badly in 2018, but Penta's reign was incredibly short. Without him officially being signed with TNA, he wasn't going to carry their title for very long. Technically, Penta held the title for about five weeks, but in reality he really only had it for two days. At several weeks worth of TV tapings, 48 hours after his big Redemption victory, Penta first successfully defended the gold against the future LA Knight, Eli Drake. On that same taping for a show which aired several weeks later, Austin Aries got a rematch and reclaimed his lost championship.

This wouldn't be the end of Penta in TNA. Throughout the rest of 2018 and 2019, Penta competed in Impact Wrestling many times, feuding with Sami Callihan, and winning the Impact World Tag Team Championship with Rey Fenix. As Penta's run in TNA ended, a new one began with All Elite Wrestling.

Penta's time as Impact World Champion was short. It served the purpose to help a struggling company in a time of short-term need, while also creating an exciting moment of unpredictability. Eight years later, Penta is ready to be a world champion again, this time in WWE. When it happens (and it must), Penta cannot have a short, forgotten reign. With how popular he has become with casual and hardcore fans, along with kids and families, Penta is more than ready to have a great run with a world title. He deserves it.