Penta is still the Intercontinental Champion. The former AEW star outlasted Rey Mysterio, Dragon Lee, JD McDonagh and Rusev in a five-man ladder match at WrestleMania 42 Night 2 at Allegiant Stadium, a 22-minute spotfest that delivered three top-rope leaps, two broken tables and confirmation that the title belongs to the lucha-coded side of the WWE roster for the foreseeable future.
The match built slowly through an early ladder bridge spot before a Rey Mysterio 619 onto JD McDonagh through a ringside table raised the crowd's pitch. Dragon Lee countered a corner sunset flip powerbomb from Rusev with a double-stomp off the top ladder. Penta's finishing sequence, a Mexican Destroyer on McDonagh on the arena floor followed by a one-man top-of-the-ladder climb, delivered a finish that WWE creative could realistically run back in a one-on-one Rusev-Penta singles programme this summer.
The result secures Penta's first WrestleMania singles title defence since switching from AEW in late 2024. The 40-year-old has held the Intercontinental title since last November, and the WrestleMania retention makes his reign the second-longest of the modern era, behind only Gunther's 26-month run that ended in 2024.
Rey Mysterio's inclusion on the card was a family-week subplot of its own. The 50-year-old entered as a near-sentimental favourite, with Dominik Mysterio running a parallel match on the same night. Rey's backstage comment immediately after the match, 'I still have one more title run in me', felt less like a throwaway quote than a signal of intent; a Royal Rumble run at age 51 in January is not out of the question.
The match also served as a showcase for Dragon Lee, who had been underused on SmackDown through early 2026. His high-double-stomp spot on Rusev from the top ladder earned the loudest near-finish pop of the night and sets up a singles feud for the summer. The Creed Brothers, who failed to qualify for the match through the Andre the Giant Battle Royal the previous evening, watched from the ramp, which suggested a future tag-team programme with Lee and a partner.
The ladder match's placement on the card, fourth from the top, gave it just enough space to breathe without crowding the headline Reigns-Punk main event. WWE's decision to trust Penta, still new enough to the WWE audience to feel fresh, with the match's finish, validated the Intercontinental title as the top secondary belt on the card for another year.