Professional wrestling has had its share of characters over the years especially those of a dark nature, connect with the fanbases and one of the best that has emerged in the past 10-years is Pentagon Jr. In Mexico, the Lucha mask is sacred and taken very seriously by the luchadores that wear them. Tradition is that you never remove your mask unless you lose it as part of a stipulation in a match. Not knowing what the performer looks like without the mask adds a level of mystique and intrigue to the character. Honestly, not much is known about the man behind the mask other than he was trained by Skayde and his brother is Fenix. He apparently just turned 37 in February, but the actual day adds to the mystery as one site says it is the 5th and another says the 26th. It is unknown if he is a generational talent or if he is the first in his family to enter the wrestling business. Despite the name Pentagon Jr., I cannot find any information if he has any connection to any of the previous men that took the name Pentagon.
According to OneStopWrestling: “Did you know that Pentagón Jr.’s catchphrase, Cero Miedo (Zero Fear) was created due to a legend? The name Pentagon was thought to be cursed, after several wrestlers who had previously held the name had experienced bad luck in their careers. Pentagon uses the catchphrase to show no fear to the curse.”
Although, Pentagon Jr. may have been well known in Mexico as he wrestled for AAA starting in 2010, he gained a wider global audience in 2014 with the unique sci-fi soap opera cinematic promotion known as Lucha Underground (LU). This was my and many others first exposure to the character, and it became clear that there was something special about this character. He was a ruthless fighter in the Temple of LU as he took pleasure in “breaking” his opponents’ arms regardless of whether he won or lost the match. There was no escaping the man without fear.
If Pentagon wasn’t sadistic enough, he would soon be an apprentice to the legendary, Vampiro and take on an even darker and more viscous persona of Pentagon Dark. His reign of terror in LU included ending the storyline career of Prince Puma (better known as WWE’s Ricochet) and would go on to be the only 2-time LU Champion in the company’s short lived 4-season run. There was no question on if Pentagon would continue his career outside of LU as he was clearly the most popular of all the talents to come out of the series.
Post LU, Pentagon would tag with his brother, Fenix having great tag team success wherever they went holding multiple tag titles from a variety of promotions. The Pentagon that the world was seeing now in places such as Impact Wrestling, MLW and AEW for example was not the same Pentagon Dark that we last saw in LU. Pentagon would go on to win the Impact Wrestling World title, but as a whole his LU single star success and appeal didn’t seem to be transferring especially in AEW.
The question is why? Was his appeal so tied to the LU environment that it struggled to transfer to weekly TV? I think part of the problem is LU was not a year-round product nor was it live when it aired on the El Rey Network. Shows were shot months in advance to air to air sporadically throughout the year, so shows could be edited to present the best product possible. I’m not saying Pentagon was directly impacted by this, but to make it clear this was not a LIVE program or weekly episodic series like AEW is. Part of the mystique was you only saw Pentagon for a few weeks a season, so his uniqueness and specialness was not over exposed in LU.
When you have character like Pentagon, in order to keep that edge and appeal, the character needs to evolve. One of the reasons the Undertaker character was so successful for 30 years is that he was constantly making changes to the character to stay ahead of the curve. DDP said on the Undertaker “This Is My Yard” DVD documentary, “if you took a picture of the undertaker every day, you’d eventually notice little changes, so he could stay ahead of the curve”.
AEW has recently hinted at the return of a darker Pentagon, and I absolutely think it is the right move for the character to evolve in order to be successful. I’m not saying Pentagon has been bogged down being in a tag with his brother or in the stable Death Triangle, but a darker version of Pentagon is needed in my opinion. As a whole with a group name Death Triangle, it should have been darker and embraced like the WWF’s Brood or what House of Black is doing in AEW.
The opportunity exists for AEW to turn Pentagon darker and lead a stable in a war with House of Black. It is a perfect 3 on 3 scenario and you could have an absolute war of dark and epic proportions. Because all the people involved are dark it opens up the possibilities for matches such as coffins, buried alive, inferno and blood and guts just to name a few. You also have the ability to use cinematic or new never before seen match types because it would fit with the rivalry.
If Fenix and PAC aren’t available to round out the trio, I have a recommendation who AEW could bring in to help Pentagon with the House of Black. Since AEW has a partnership with the NWA, I’d recommend bringing in the reigning NWA Tag Team Champions, La Rebelión (Bestia 666 and Mecha Wolf 450):
It is a win-win for both parties, AEW gets a great team that would fit perfectly in the story and the NWA gets their tag champs and the promotion more exposure on national tv. These men work well as a unit and were tremendous as a team in the 2022 Crockett Cup a few weeks ago. They could easily team up with the darker Pentagon and it would fit seamlessly. This opens up the door for a great 6-man feud with House of Black, but La Rebelión could make an awesome feud with Fenix and PAC in case you wanted to keep Pentagon with them instead of Fenix and PAC.
My point being this darker Pentagon feud could be a great launching point for a great single’s run for Pentagon. I think bringing back the arm breaking terror of LU could be great as he possibly chases the TNT Championship. This allows for a brother vs brother feud down the road as well between Pentagon and Fenix. One of the best storyline rivalries of all time and the one that got me hooked on wrestling in the first place was Undertaker vs Kane.
A tale as old as time when done correctly, the brother vs brother feud, could do amazing things for both men’s careers. These men are one of the rare tag teams where both members could be great singles stars if given the right chance and opportunity. Pentagon’s sweet spot is the dark individual that has no problem hurting his opponents and takes pleasure in it. Fenix’s sweet spot is in the mold of the new Rey Mysterio as a force for good trying to save his brother from the dark side. There is plenty of time for them to reunite and tag together down the road, but for now possibly splitting them up to feud with each other may be the best thing for both men’s careers in my opinion.
Final Thoughts:
Along with Alex Abrahantes as his version of Paul Bearer, I believe this truly dark Pentagon that is similar to the Pentagon Dark in LU, could be huge today. There is a portion of the audience that may have never seen this dark version before since they never watched LU and those that have seen it would love to see its return. This could be something truly special to watch transpire and I hope AEW truly commits to this and isn’t kicked to the side. The pieces are there to make this work for Pentagon and AEW as a whole, they just need to fully commit and deliver. Pentagon is so much more capable than we have seen in AEW so far as a singles star and now is the perfect time for him to re-embrace that dark side of himself.
Photo Credits – Rob Schamberger’s Instagram, AEW, NWA, Impact Wrestling, MLW and Lucha Underground
