In less than two weeks, Penta, who beat his real-life brother Fenix to earn a shot at the World Heavyweight championship on Raw this week, will challenge Roman Reigns for that belt when the broadcast is hosted in Mexico City on September 14th. The Monday night show that will be headlined by one of its countryman in the main event will be the wrap up of an important few days for the AAA brand, which WWE bought last year. The first night of Triplemania, the biggest event on the lucha libre calendar, will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on September 11th before the second night takes place just two days later at Arena CDMX as a part of the WWE’s series of shows in the country. Despite what was mentioned in the WWE video packages to hype the lucha events, Triplemania has taken place over the course of multiple nights in the past.
Still, this is a pretty big time frame for the Mexican expansion of the TKO umbrella, as more major stars, including the legendary Rey Mysterio, became a regular part of AAA programming.
In many respects, putting those WWE stars into the fold of the lucha project sent a message to the audience that this wasn’t meant to be an American takeover of their homegrown product, but rather a way to make their native promotion even bigger in the process. If that is how the chips fall into place in the long run remains to be seen, but at the very least, it establishes a level of goodwill with the Hispanic audience that TKO wants to promote authentic lucha libre on a global scale, not Americanize it.
With that in mind, is it possible that Penta could unseat Roman Reigns to win the World Heavyweight championship in Mexico City?
On the surface, the answer would be no, but a look at the WWE schedule opens the door for the possibility. Let’s be honest here, for the most part, the WWE has cooled off compared to where it was a few years ago, that’s a natural decline, and at this point in the year, specifically the span of time between Summer Slam and Survivor Series, the product can hit an unintended plateau. Outside of the Sunday Night’s Main Event special on Peakcock this weekend, the next pay-per-view isn’t until October 10th for the Money in The Bank PPV so there’s undoubtedly time to add something fresh into the mix before the main event scene potentially gets reshuffled before Royal Rumble season.
Don’t get me wrong, Roman Reigns is still one of the top tier guys for the company and should remain in that position until he retires. He’s one of the very few stars from the modern era that have any type of connection with the mainstream public, and that’s not anywhere near the level of stars of the past so it’s a rare asset in 2026 that management will look to keep strong. At the same time, will dropping the title for a month or so really damage his status within the WWE? One thing is for sure, a championship win over Roman in Mexico City would propel Penta into a completely different level of stardom. I’d argue that even if it’s a short run, that isn’t the difference maker in the grand scheme of things. Penta becoming the champion would be about the moment, not the title reign itself.
I understand that there’s a hierarchy within the WWE system, and Roman Reigns rarely loses matches. Maybe in the past it wouldn’t have been seen as the most feasible option from a marketing perspective to have a wrestler that only speaks limited English defeat Roman Reigns for the world title, but taking into account that the WWE owns a lucha libre propriety, and Penta has a gimmick that lends itself to being extremely marketable, I’d say that they should go with the surprise victory and give Penta the championship until the next pay-per-view. Again, I have to point out, and this is meant as a compliment, I don’t think Roman Reigns loses any status if he loses the belt. He has reached a point in his career that he’s as over as he’s going to be and he’s solidified in that position, regardless of if he has the championship or not.
That being said, I don’t think the belt will actually change hands when Raw is scheduled for Mexico City. I get the point of why they’d want a native performer to get a title shot to draw in the traditional audience, but I still think it would be somewhat of a letdown if or when Penta comes up short in his quest for the title, especially after the tournament on television the past several weeks to build up to the bout. Sure, Roman will probably shake Penta’s hand and endorse him in the post-match segment, but it would still seem like somewhat of a missed opportunity, given the location, and more importantly, TKO’s continued efforts to expand lucha libre under the WWE banner.
Obviously, it remains to be seen what move management makes for the title contest, but at the very least, it becomes another way to spotlight the lucha project. As I wrote at the time of the AAA purchase, I was skeptical, and in some ways still am, of what WWE is really going to do with a lucha organization. If something gets really over, there’s a tendency to move it to the global stage of WWE rather than the national stage of AAA, or at least that would’ve been the philosophy under the previous regime. It was a pleasant surprise, at least so far, to see that the office hasn’t cherry-picked AAA’s most popular acts to import to the main roster. Since there are decades of examples of how the office had to put the WWE brand first in more or less every situation, even when they owned other properties, including WCW and ECW, I’m not going to be totally sold of their commitment to AAA until at least a few years from now. Keep in mind,Triple H had to pin Sting at Wrestlemania 15 years after WCW folded because Vince McMahon was still fighting the Monday night war.
One of the only good things that the TKO executives might bring to the table, as they ignore even the most respected wrestling troupes of that past, is that they don’t have the irrational loyalty to the WWE initials. Vince McMahon beat Sting, and Goldberg had a horrendous run in 2003 because McMahon was simply not going to spotlight WCW guys. The suites at TKO don’t care what the letter are, but rather how to make as much money as possible either the assets they own in the portfolio. We’ve seen how TKO has significantly increased the international footprint of the WWE brand, and they aren’t going to derail the opportunity to make as much money as possible in the Mexican market just because McMahon Sr. founded Capital Wrestling with Toots Mondt in 1953.
One of the encouraging signs of the investment being put into the AAA brand was that at the recent comic con event, it was revealed that Mattel will release a full line of lucha libre action figures, with a nod to the past with throwback versions of Rey Mysterio and Psychosis as well as current stars from the promotion. Realistically, I find it very doubtful that there will be a title change on Raw, but there’s no doubt that Penta winning the championship would be a memorable moment in Mexico City.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
