On the January 13th episode of WWE Raw, Penta made his official WWE debut, defeating Chad Gable in singles competition.
Penta's debut had been teased for weeks with a series of vignettes.
Speaking on his Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Matt commented on Penta's debut.
“I thought it was tremendous. I thought it was great, I thought Penta going out and working against Chad Gable, Chad Gable was great, he’s just tremendous, he’s such a great talent and he’s always just a great guy on top of this as well. Just for Penta to go out working against Chad Gable in a really competitive, good, strong match is just how Penta needed to be introduced.
“Once again, I say if you have some powerhouse like Bobby Lashley or even Shelton Benjamin going from WWE to AEW, the wrestling fans that are watching AEW, they’re gonna know who Shelton Benjamin is because he’s been on the biggest show and he’s been around for a long time. Bobby Lashley as well. Penta, the majority of the crowd knew who he was because the people that attend shows typically watch wrestling and keep up with wrestling in almost all forms of wrestling. Whenever he came out, he got a great reaction and I think a new viewer who is watching Penta for the first time at home, watching on the TV screen, they’re like, ‘Wow, this guy is really talented. This is reminiscent of Rey Mysterio to me, I think he’s gonna be someone who becomes a big star like Rey Mysterio.’ I think that was totally the right direction to go with Penta.”
Penta and Hardy have worked together a number of times in their respective careers, both as teammates and opponents.
The Hardys (Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy) teamed with The Lucha Brothers (Penta & Rey Fenix) against The Butcher And The Blade (The Blade & The Butcher), Jay Lethal & Jeff Jarrett in September 2023 on AEW Rampage.
Elsewhere during the podcast, Hardy commented on the WWE-TNA partnership. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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