Penta Retains the Men's Intercontinental Title in Wild Ladder Match

Penta is still the WWE Men's Intercontinental Champion.

In a wild ladder match at WrestleMania 42, Penta defeated Rey Mysterio, Rusev, JD McDonagh, Dragon Lee, and Je'Von Evans to retain his title. Penta won the match by climbing the ladder right after connecting with a Mexican Destroyer off a ladder rung on Evans.

The match was filled with wild action, including Penta smashing Rusev through a ladder on a fall from inside the ring to the outside. Penta also connected with a Mexican Destroyer on JD McDonagh. The move was off the ladder and through another ladder that was propped up near the ring post.

OG CUTTER!!! @WWEJeVonEvans

The FIRST HOUR of #WrestleMania is LIVE RIGHT NOW on ESPN! pic.twitter.com/Nxz08RGSu8
— WWE (@WWE) April 19, 2026

The spot of the match belonged to Rusev and Evans. Rusev had tossed Evans out of the ring and started to climb the ladder. Before he could reach the top, Evans connected with his OG Cutter from across the ring. The move sent both men plummeting to the mat. Evans utilized a nearby ladder to climb into the ring in order to make his jump.

As Evans tried to get his bearings and climb the ladder for the win, Penta hit him with the Destroyer and then climbed up the ladder and pulled the belt down.

Penta has been a key player on WWE Raw since debuting

Penta joined the WWE at the beginning of 2025. He's been a key part of the Raw brand for nearly all of the Netflix era. Penta challenged for the WWE Men's Intercontinental Championship on multiple occasions before finally winning it from Dominik Mysterio on the March 2 edition of WWE Raw on Netflix this year.

Penta has worked all over the world and for multiple different pro wrestling companies, including Lucha Underground, TNA, and most recently AEW. In AEW, he was a former world tag team champion with Rey Fenix, who is also now in the WWE.

His first WrestleMania in WWE was last year at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas. Penta wrestled Bron Breakker, Dominik Mysterio, and Finn Balor in a WWE Men's Intercontinental Championship fatal four-way. Mysterio won the championship in that match.

Night one of WrestleMania 42 ended with Cody Rhodes beating Randy Orton to retain the Undisputed WWE Championship. Rhodes retained the championship, but Orton won the war. At the end of the night, Orton stood over a broken Rhodes after punting him in the head. According to reports, Rhodes has an orbital injury and will be out of action indefinitely.

Add us as a preferred source on Google