Chaos Reigns as Penta Defies Gravity and Five Challengers to Keep IC Gold at WrestleMania 42

Philadelphia, PA – In a night designed for legends to be made, Penta proved that the age of zero fear is far from over. The masked champion walked into a six-man ladder match at WrestleMania 42 and walked out still holding the WWE Men’s Intercontinental Championship, but not without leaving a trail of broken bodies and shattered aluminum.

The bout was a fever dream from the opening bell. Rey Mysterio, channeling his inner “Merc with a Mouth” with Deadpool-themed gear, kicked things off, followed by Je’Von Evans paying homage to Kofi Kingston’s high-flying legacy. However, the ring quickly became a warzone when JD McDonagh, Rusev, and Dragon Lee joined the fray, followed by the champion himself, Penta, dressed as the tyrannical “Shao Kahn” from Mortal Kombat.

The match’s first iconic visual came when Mysterio and Penta used the unconscious Rusev as a crash mat. The two luchadors sent Rusev crashing through a ladder bridged between the ring apron and the announce desk, turning the Bulgarian brute into a human pancake.

Midway through the carnage, McDonagh soared with a Spanish Fly off a vertical ladder onto Dragon Lee, sending both men crashing to the canvas. McDonagh then turned his attention to the title, scrambling up the rungs with Penta in hot pursuit. In a terrifying sequence, McDonagh hooked the champion for a suplex from the top of the ladder, aiming to drive him through another ladder below. But Penta’s survival instinct kicked in—he reversed mid-air, hitting a devastating Mexican Destroyer that spiked McDonagh’s head directly onto the unforgiving aluminum rungs. The ladder didn’t break. McDonagh did.

As the crowd gasped, Je’Von Evans saw his opening. The young high-flyer scaled the structure and grabbed the title, only for Rusev (now recovered from his announce-table flight) to kick the ladder out from under him. Evans hung by his fingertips, a sitting duck, before Rusev pulled him down and launched him out of the ring.

Thinking he had cleared the path, Rusev began his slow, methodical climb. But Evans is not built for surrender. From the top turnbuckle, the “Young OG” launched himself across the ring, hitting a picture-perfect OG Cutter that knocked Rusev senseless.

In the final moment of chaos, as Evans celebrated his highlight-reel move, he turned around directly into the eyes of the champion. Penta, who had been lurking in the shadows, struck with a second, match-ending Mexican Destroyer on Evans. As the challengers lay scattered like broken toys, Penta calmly ascended the ladder one final time, unclasped his Intercontinental Championship, and raised it high above the WrestleMania stage—still the king of the mountain.