For those who watched All Elite Wrestling‘s AEW Dynamite last night, you will have been more than excited to witness the perfected debut of “Limitless” Keith Lee and former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jay White‘s waltz through the “Forbidden Door” and into the arms of The Elite, at the invite of Adam Cole. Yet, for a select few of us, the potentially most exciting return teased on this show was the return of a star who has only been gone for seven days. We are, of course, referring to Penta El Zero Miedo‘s short teaser for the return of his darkest persona, Pentagon Dark – now, for trademarking reasons, being referred to as Penta Oscuro (fellow Spanish speakers will recognize “Oscuro” as the literal translation of “Dark”). Penta’s tease is the result of being black-misted by Malakai Black in last week’s defeat (alongside Death Triangle member, PAC) to the House of Black (Malakai and Brody King). With House of Black willing to get dark and nasty, so, too, is Penta. Let’s get into some of the history of Penta Oscuro and why House of Black need be worried about a star perhaps even more devilish than they.
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Penta Oscuro: Vampiro’s Darkest Protege
Penta El Zero Miedo is synonymous with the cult, hit pro wrestling series, Lucha Underground. He was the ultimate anti-hero – originally a heel who broke the arms of his defeated opponents, sacrificing the bones to his then unknown master. Of course, with a character as bad*ss as the then-Pentagon Jr., he quickly grew to become the company’s top babyface whilst retaining almost all of his original, heel character. He was, quite simply, too cool to boo. During the third match of Night 2 of the inaugural Ultima Lucha (August 5th, 2015) event (Lucha Underground’s WrestleMania, which was the Season 1 Finale), Penta defeated lucha libre and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) legend turned Lucha Underground color commentator, Vampiro, in an 11 minute long, brutal, all out war of a match. Akin to the death matches now commonly featured on AEW, this match saw light tubes, thumbtacks and lots (and lots) of blood. In the end, Penta overcame Vampiro, only for the shock reveal to quickly follow: Vampiro had been Penta’s mysterious, elusive master all along. In season 2 of Lucha Underground, where Penta turned babyface, this dynamic was explored further – with Vampiro often declaring that he didn’t know what commentary partner, Matt Striker, was talking about when he was referred to as Penta’s master.
Apprentice Soon Becomes the Master
Much of season 2 was spent further teasing the dynamic between Penta and Vampiro. In the culmination of season 2, an event named Ultima Lucha Dos (January 31st, 2016), Penta – after being deemed ready to don the mask by his master – would take on the name “Pentagon Dark”; sporting an all black attire, noticeably different from his traditional “ninja skeleton” look, complete with a near completely black mask – the same one dug up during yesterday’s teaser on AEW Dynamite. Penta would fail to capture the Lucha Underground Championship from Matanza Cueto (played by Jeff Cobb) at Ultima Lucha Dos, even despite the slight change to his persona and attire, and would turn on Master Vampiro. He would, from here on, be known as “Pentagon Dark” for the remainder of Lucha Underground’s run.
In season 3, after having previously failed to capture the Lucha Underground Championship at every turn, he would finally succeed at Ultima Lucha Tres – overcoming then Champion, face of the company Prince Puma (played by current WWE superstar Ricochet) in a “Loser Must Retire” match. This would allow Penta to achieve two unsurpassed feats: one of only two professional wrestlers to capture the Lucha Underground Champion twice (alongside Ricochet) and the star to have the longest reign in the history of the show, recognized as 622 days. Pentagon Dark would have a number of high quality matches – perhaps most memorably is the gauntlet match against the Black Lotus Triad (played by joshi megastars Io Shirai, Kairi Hojo and Mayu Iwatani) which was, perhaps, the finest intergender match in televised pro wrestling history.
Penta Oscuro in AEW
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Though Penta would not stand as the final Lucha Underground Champion in history (a distinction undeservedly and almost criminally held by Jake Hager, who performed under the name Jake Strong), he is without a doubt – alongside brother Rey Fenix (who had a number of excellent matches with Penta), Prince Puma and Mil Muertes – the star most synonymous with Lucha Underground today. When you think of Penta El Zero Miedo, you think of Lucha Underground, and vice-versa. Pentagon Dark was an integral part of the Lucha Underground series; it was the evolved form of Pentagon Jr. and the culmination of a long-time, season and year spanning, very well-written story which was the hottest thing in a promotion with a cult following, even today. For Penta to now bring this character to AEW in his battle with the House of Black is a very big deal – it might very well be the beginning of the Penta solo run we have all craved for so long. Despite having been in a (highly entertaining) tag team with brother Fenix since the very inception of All Elite Wrestling, Penta remains one of the hottest stars in the company. When Penta Oscuro finally debuts, he might just be ready to prove to the world once more why he is the star he is… and he will do so with Cero Miedo. We cannot wait for Penta Oscuro to arrive.
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TNT and AEW Dark: Elevation (Monday nights) and AEW: Dark (Tuesday nights) at 7 PM ET on YouTube. AEW Rampage airs on TNT at 10 PM EST every Friday night.
