{"id":158042,"date":"2026-04-15T06:05:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T10:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=158042"},"modified":"2026-04-17T05:52:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:52:41","slug":"ranked-who-has-the-highest-chance-of-winning-the-intercontinental-championship-at-wwe-wrestlemania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/04\/15\/ranked-who-has-the-highest-chance-of-winning-the-intercontinental-championship-at-wwe-wrestlemania\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranked: Who Has The Highest Chance of Winning the Intercontinental Championship at WWE WrestleMania?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span>The ladder of success is never crowded at the top. When it comes to ladder matches in professional wrestling, there are many contestants, but only one winner. When ladder matches like these happen at WrestleMania, the winner is not just commemorated in the history books but also recognized as one of the greatest to ever lace up a pair of wrestling boots. This year, at WrestleMania 42, that winner cannot have their hands in their pockets like Orange Cassidy; that winner must reach for the Intercontinental Title.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In WrestleMania history, there have been incredible Intercontinental Title Ladder Matches at both WrestleMania 31 and 32, in which Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens walked into Mania as champions and lost their titles to Bryan Danielson and Matt Cardona respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBOUYld5Kh\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 3000px; aspect-ratio: 3000\/2058;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<p><span> It can be difficult for champs to retain in matches like these, as there are always 6-8 hungry contestants vying for the title. This year, Penta is walking into Mania as champion and statistically has a 16.67% chance of retaining the title against five other contestants.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Those five other contestants are Je&#8217;Von Evans, Rey Mysterio, Dragon Lee, JD McDonagh, and Rusev. They are all workhorses who have been keeping the mid card hot on Raw lately. Some of them were booked with better momentum and credibility than others. However, they all persevered during Dirty Dom&#8217;s reign of terror, and they now want to capitalize on this opportunity now that the belt is no longer around his waist. <\/span><span>Here is a ranking of everyone\u2019s chances of winning the IC Title Ladder Match at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/04\/08\/wwe-wrestlemania-42-preview-match-card-4-19-26-night-2\/\" target=\"_self\">WrestleMania 42<\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Betting Favorite: Je&#8217;Von Evans<\/h2>\n<p>Je&#8217;Von Evans has a lot of similarities to Bryan Danielson, who won the Intercontinental Title in a Ladder Match at WrestleMania 31. He is a babyface underdog who fans resonate with and want to root for in all of his matches. Every time he is so close to winning the big one, the fans are on the edge of their seats. However, when he fails, their hearts drop in despair as their high spirits dwindle drastically. Evans has been involved in situations like what was just vividly described countless times during his time in NXT.<\/p>\n<p>In the main event scene, mid card, and tag divisions, he had lost 10+ title shots. The most notable title shots he fumbled were against his arch nemesis, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/04\/09\/breaking-down-why-brock-lesnar-vs-oba-femi-should-have-headlined-wrestlemania-night-1\/\" target=\"_self\">Oba Femi<\/a>, for the NXT Title in the main event scene. In all of those performances, he delivered in the ring and told a compelling enough story on the microphone to make fans believe in his abilities. In most cases, the continuous losses and failed opportunities would begin to hurt one\u2019s credibility, but Evans is still beloved by the fans because he is truly something special.<\/p>\n<p>This spot fest at WrestleMania 42 is his environment. He is a high flyer who made his entire gimmick about being bouncy. He drops the jaws of pro wrestling fans with his high octane offense and daredevil aerial assaults.<\/p>\n<p>A ladder match like this is the perfect place for Evans to win the first title in his entire career and symbolize a redemption arc for all his prior failed title opportunities in NXT. WWE has an opportunity to facilitate a grandiose moment for this young star, and all they have to do is let his work speak for itself.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Je\u2019Von Evans takes down Grayson Waller: Raw highlights, March 23, 2026\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ejFCGAfLgQc?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>Runner Up: Penta El Zero Miedo<\/h2>\n<p>While Evans could be on the verge of becoming the youngest Intercontinental Champion in history, anyone would be remiss if they did not foresee Penta, the current champ, retaining the title. Although the history of Intercontinental Champions retaining their titles in Ladder Matches at WrestleMania are not on Penta&#8217;s side here, he just won that title from Dirty Dom in March. He has only held that title for a month and he has had such an impeccable title reign. It would be unfortunate if he lost the title this soon in his run.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Penta was in the Intercontinental Title Match last year with Bron Breakker, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/04\/08\/what-it-could-mean-for-finn-balor-to-bring-back-the-demon-at-wrestlemania-42\/\" target=\"_self\">Finn Balor<\/a>, and Dirty Dom. He lost that match and lost eight more IC Title shots afterwards before finally winning the gold. It is very important for Penta to solidify his journey to the workhorse title and his title reign itself by winning under the brightest lights.<\/p>\n<p>Penta has a chance to flip the script, rewrite history, and prove that it is possible for the Intercontinental Champ to walk into Mania and out of Mania the champion.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>Dark Horse: Rey Mysterio<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBY9hKYEiC\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 4368px; aspect-ratio: 4368\/2912;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<p>While Penta goes against the grain in this ladder match, there is a constant who goes by the name of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/04\/11\/3-reasons-why-wwe-was-right-to-add-rey-mysterio-to-the-ladder-match\/\" target=\"_self\">Rey Mysterio<\/a>. Due to his lingering injury trouble, he was inserted in this match at the last minute as a seasoned veteran in a match with a plethora of upstarts.<\/p>\n<p>As the veteran, he will be relied on to use his experience to add structure to this match and assure that all of the rising talent look their very best. As for winning the match, that is not out of the question for Mysterio, as he is great at swerving and shocking the crowd.<\/p>\n<p>The last time Mysterio won the IC Title was in 2009 after an epic Mania 25 moment against JBL. He always treasured the workhorse title and wanted to hold it longer. Mysterio did miss Mania last year due to injury and he almost missed Mania this year due to injury, so it would not be a smart business decision to put the title on him at this stage in his career. However, the idea of Mysterio winning the title that his son recently held would be a good &#8220;spit in the face&#8221; moment and could lead to higher stakes for his retirement match.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>No Chance In Hell: JD McDonagh, Dragon Lee, &amp; Rusev<\/h2>\n<p>Speaking of Rey Mysterio&#8217;s son, Dom actually told JD McDonagh to win the IC Title, stop his deadbeat dad from winning it, and bring it back to the Judgment Day. McDonagh actually has a motive to win this match. However, he lacks the momentum and credibility to actually pull out this victory.<\/p>\n<p>The same can be said for Dragon Lee. Although he had some momentum in winning tag gold with Hall of Famer <a  href=\"https:\/\/nodq.com\/news\/aj-styles-says-his-best-wwe-wrestlemania-match-ever-was-against-shane-mcmahon\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AJ Styles<\/a> and this win would be a good tribute to Styles as a former IC Champ, his booking has not been compelling enough.<\/p>\n<p>As for Rusev, he&#8217;s actually not an upstart like Je&#8217;Von Evans. He&#8217;s not even a veteran or former world champion like Rey Mysterio. He is somewhere in between, stuck in the upper mid card vortex. The fact that he was in WWE from 2014-2020, had a dominant U.S. Title run, yet never won the IC Title is baffling. That title has eluded his career. However, his booking since returning to WWE in 2025 has not been promising. He has lost most of his matches and just feels like an afterthought. It is actually surprising he is in this match.<\/p>\n<p><span>If you\u2019re not down with just that and would like even more WWE PLE Coverage from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/letthemwrestle.com\/author\/markjustice\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>Mark Justice<\/span><\/a><span>, check out more of his articles right here on LWOS and subscribe to his popular YouTube channel by clicking\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@MarkTBKJustice1327\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span>HERE<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"WWE PPV Predictions - Mark Justice\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/videoseries?list=PL4Cbox4S9rfPQAIqd77dztP3geVc0ymXs\" 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>The ladder of success is never crowded at the top. When it comes to ladder matches in professional wrestling, there are many contestants, but only one winner. When ladder matches like these happen at WrestleMania, the winner is not just commemorated in the history books but also recognized as one of the greatest to ever [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5747,"featured_media":157946,"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":[2192,4,3],"tags":[329,8833,9123],"class_list":["post-158042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wrestling","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-intercontinental-championship","tag-jevon-evans","tag-penta"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158042","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\/5747"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158042"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158376,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158042\/revisions\/158376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}