In an episode of Grilling JR with Jim Ross, Good Ole JR expresses his surprise at the amount of hype Penta received from both WWE and its fans during his debut. JR compares Penta to Rey Mysterio, noting that Mysterio was “special, unique, one of a kind” during his WWE tenure, as there were few luchadors at the time. However, Ross points out that Penta was “one of many” in AEW. He believes that WWE’s presentation of Penta reflects the company’s strong confidence in his future.
“I was a little surprised,” Ross said. “We had him here at AEW for good while. Soft-spoken guy, no trouble. You hardly knew he was there until he got in the ring and then he was phenomenal. But I was a little surprised at the hype. So what it tells me is that WWE and Triple H covet him in a significant way where he’s going to be in main events or semi-main events within the next year if not sooner. I was a little surprised.
“There’s so many guys doing that act, that bit, that routine of the luchadors,” Ross continued. “When I hired Rey Mysterio [to WWE], we didn’t have anybody that compared to Rey, but really nobody in the business did, if you ask a lot the insiders. He was special, unique, one of a kind. We had a lot of that kind of style in AEW, so [Penta] was one of many that did a lot of acrobatics and flying things. Now he might have been the best at doing it, I’m not saying that, but he wasn’t the only one doing it, so it made it less special. WWE’s got a good stock of luchadors. They got several guys in the roster that have that background, just got to be careful how you book it.”
Ross’s comments highlight that AEW had numerous high flyers during Penta’s time there, making his style less unique to the AEW audience. WWE, despite having its own share of luchadors, currently presents Penta as a “very close second” to Rey Mysterio, who is regarded as the best luchador on the planet.
Penta made his WWE debut on the January 13th episode of Monday Night Raw on Netflix by defeating Chad Gable. The segment has gained millions of views across social media. Michael Cole referred to Penta’s WWE debut as the “worst kept secret,” especially since his merchandise was launched shortly before his appearance.
