WWE Backstage Reaction To Penta's Raw Debut Revealed

In what has been the worst kept secret in WWE for some time, Penta (FKA Penta El Zero Miedo and Pentagon Jr) made his debut on the January 13 edition of Monday Night Raw from San Jose, California.

Penta faced Chad Gable on Raw and picked up the win after 13 minutes following his snapping armbar and the Penta Driver. The former AEW World Tag Team Champion then stated in a post-match interview that he had been waiting for this moment and there was now a new Penta era.

WWE management were happy with Penta's debut and the reaction he received from the fans in San Jose, according to Mike Johnson of PWInsider. There wasn't universal happiness amongst WWE talents, though, due to Penta's match and post-match interview running much longer than originally planned. This led to other segments later in the show having time cut and some wrestlers, according to Johnson, were "obviously not thrilled about that."

PWInsider further noted that although WWE Raw has a flexible run-time on Netflix, WWE will still internally schedule a run-time and ensure they stick to it. If a segment is running over, time will be cut from matches and segments later in the show to ensure Raw ends at the planned time.

In the case of Monday's taping from San Jose, WWE wanted to end Raw after two and a half hours as several dark matches were planned and the company wanted to make sure talents and staff could make their red-eye flights home.

Bryan Alvarez also reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that Penta's interview ran long and time was cut to ensure Raw finished in two and a half hours.

"I was told the interview in particular went long and so they did cut some time a little bit later on, but they wanted a two-and-a-half hour window. So even though they could have gone longer they did cut to make sure it was two and a half hours," Alvarez said.

Penta signed with WWE at some point following the expiry of his AEW contract in December 2024. Penta's brother Rey Fenix, remains under contract with All Elite Wrestling until well into 2025 after AEW added injury time to his deal.

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