{"id":154812,"date":"2026-03-14T07:00:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=154812"},"modified":"2026-03-14T00:15:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T04:15:39","slug":"3-potential-top-challengers-for-penta-at-wrestlemania-42","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/03\/14\/3-potential-top-challengers-for-penta-at-wrestlemania-42\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Potential Top Challengers for Penta at WrestleMania 42"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WrestleMania 42 is only a month away, but much of the card is still up in the air. The Intercontinental Title scene was recently shaken up with a massive championship change. Penta defeated Dominik Mysterio to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/03\/03\/penta-wins-wwe-intercontinental-championship-on-3-2-raw\/\" target=\"_self\">win<\/a> his first singles belt in WWE.<\/p>\n<p>Cero Miedo has promised to be a fighting champion, and his reign has gotten off to a hot start. Penta retained the Intercontinental Championship against El Grande Americano on RAW this past week. However, his direction for Mania remains unclear. The IC Title is WWE&#8217;s workhorse championship, and is too precious to be left off the most important event of the year<\/p>\n<p>On that note, let&#8217;s look at 3 opponents for Penta at WrestleMania 42.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>#3.<\/strong> Rey Mysterio vs. Penta is a Dream Match<\/h2>\n<p>Rey Mysterio has established himself as one of the greatest luchadors in professional wrestling. His resume speaks for itself, but Penta is not far behind. Cero Miedo wowed audiences all over the globe before finally setting foot in WWE in January 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Penta vs. Rey Mysterio is a massive dream match for all fans who enjoy Lucha Libre. They squared off in the 2025 Men&#8217;s Royal Rumble match, and the WWE Universe thoroughly enjoyed their encounter. This match doesn&#8217;t need a build; it will sell itself, and could begin with a simple challenge issued by Mysterio to Penta.<\/p>\n<p>As for the eventual match, it would be a thrilling spot fest, which would put the spotlight on Lucha Libre. Nonetheless, Penta would get a huge rub by defeating an established legend like Rey Mysterio.<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: 610px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"6dfbdbe8ed6ff2eb8f8e8ee3c2cef8f4\" image-id=\"wennz73jBtNF\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 1992px; aspect-ratio: 1992\/3000;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: 610px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOB2MXs5rwo\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 4368px; aspect-ratio: 4368\/2912;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rey Mysterio and Penta begin the Royal Rumble with a bang: Royal Rumble 2025 highlights\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tfl9S3m8Ncc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>#2. Gunther Goes After the Intercontinental Championship<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Before Gunther became the &#8220;Career Killer,&#8221; the Ring General ruled his first few years on the main roster as the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion. Gunther had a tremendous reign as the IC Champion, helping restore the workhorse title&#8217;s prestige.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the impressive run Gunther has been on, WWE still doesn&#8217;t have a direction for him heading into WrestleMania. Although many wanted the Career Killer to fight for the World Championship, he could pursue the championship he had made relevant. The IC Title was instrumental in elevating his career, and the Ring General might want it back.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the Career Killer unmasked Dragon Lee, disrespecting the entire luchador family. Penta could step up for his fellow luchadors to put an end to Gunther&#8217;s reign of terror.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"EVERY Gunther Intercontinental Title defense: WWE Playlist\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/t82-sT9obgc?start=1171&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>#1. LA Knight vs. Penta Would Be Intriguing<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Gunther isn&#8217;t the only major star without a clear direction. The Megastar, LA Knight, has been embroiled in a grudge feud with the Vision for months. However, it doesn&#8217;t feel as if this beef would lead to a major WrestleMania match.<\/p>\n<p>The Usos are on a collision course with Logan Paul and Austin Theory for the Tag Team Championships. Meanwhile, it looks as if Seth &#8220;Freakin&#8221; Rollins might end up facing Brock Lesnar or Bron Breakker (if Breakker recovers in time). Once again, this leaves Knight out of the picture.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, RAW has a loaded roster and a fighting Intercontinental Champion. The Megastar was great as the US Champion on SmackDown. If he earns the opportunity to fight Penta at Mania, he could do the same with the IC Title.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Penta defeats Bronson Reed by count-out after LA Knight attack: Raw highlights, Feb. 2, 2026\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/c7TbEkxz_kA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WrestleMania 42 is only a month away, but much of the card is still up in the air. The Intercontinental Title scene was recently shaken up with a massive championship change. Penta defeated Dominik Mysterio to win his first singles belt in WWE. Cero Miedo has promised to be a fighting champion, and his reign [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5689,"featured_media":154887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2192,25,4,3],"tags":[7482,9123,886],"class_list":["post-154812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wrestling","category-raw","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-la-knight","tag-penta","tag-rey-mysterio"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5689"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154812"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154888,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154812\/revisions\/154888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}