Pentagón Jr., a name synonymous with mystery, brutality, and unparalleled skill in the world of professional wrestling. But who is Pentagón Jr.? He is a man in a mask, a master of many wrestling styles, and a servant to a wrestling legend. Digging into the history of the Pentagón character leads to more questions than answers.
This article seeks to explore the deeper meaning behind this truly fascinating wrestling character, tracing his journey from the Mexican lucha libre scene to international stardom. There are a lot of incarnations of Pentagon - over 8 different versions to be exact.
The Origins of Pentagón
To explore the backstory Pentagón Jr, we will need to go back to Mexico in 1995. At this time Penta was 12 years old but the original Pentagón was just starting his career in AAA (a offshoot of the popular CMLL wrestling federation). In these wrestling circles, the original Pentagon acted as an “evil twin”to the heroic Octagon.
Octagon was such a crowd favorite that the promotion wanted to create a mortal enemy for Octagon to face off against so a rival was created and went by the name Pentagón. The original Pentagón would look just like Octagon but with minor differences. At times the two teamed up, but mostly wrestled for dominance. This eventually lead to a humiliating unmasking, one that would spell the end of Pentagon.
The original lucha Pentagon not only lost his mask but also his hair. Given this history, our current version of Pentagon - Pentagon Jr. - does resemble his original luchador namesake…but only to an extent.
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The Evolution of Pentagón Jr.
The man now known as Pentagón Jr started wrestling for AAA in 2011 he had a “Dark Dragon” gimmick. In 2012 AAA was seen as the number 2 promotion to CMLL and in a attempt to gain popularity they decided to try and recreate some of their best angles from the 90s so they created a new Octagon, Octagon Jr and they tapped the original Kalisto from the WWE to wear the mask.
Additionally, rather than mimicking his opponents, he sticks to his own style of wrestling: a brutal combination of grappling and submissions. For instance, Pentagon Jr’s current martial artist attire. To explain, Pentagon Jr. lacks any code of honor inherent in most martial arts academies. He also lacks one natural enemy (i.e. Octagon), instead seems to target other wrestlers indiscriminately.
Some of the other wrestlers told Penta it was cursed because the other guys who wore the mask had bad luck. Some of this bad luck included the original Pentagón who almost died in the ring and another Pentagón was sentenced to 27 years and six months in prison. But they were also just afraid that it was a dated gimmick and no one could get it over.
He wanted to make it known that he was not afraid of ANYTHING. He would use “Zero Fear” as his war cry and a lifestyle. Penta says that people have told him that it has “changed their lives”.
The "Cero Miedo" Philosophy
His mantra is Cero Miedo which translates to Zero Fear. This means he has no fear of anyone or anything. He fights with no fear and he has no problem hurting anyone who gets in his way. Cero Miedo drives him to be as aggressive as possible to reach his goals.
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Pentagon Jr. likes to break limbs, mostly arms, while mocking the compassion of others. All for this is done as a “sacrifice” to his mysterious master, later revealed to be the legend of hardcore, Vampiro. Pentagon Jr.’s attire may also offer some clues to his intentions. Most notably, he bears a 5 pointed star on his mask. Taken as a pentagram, this could logically be seen by many as as the occultist “Black Magic” star. Of course, the pentagram means many things to many different cultures! A popular interpretation of the 5 pointed star is that it a sign of antagonism and death, a triumph of the ego over divinity and the spiritual self. Thus, pentagrams for Pentagon Jr. I guess that all depends on what you see when looking at your own reflection onto yourself. Pentagon Jr. He’s breaking arms and claiming sacrifices for now.
One such story he shared during a recent interview on the Vampiro podcast was of a man who approached Penta with a large stack of papers and he wanted Penta to sign it. Penta was at first hesitant to sign since he didn’t know what it was and it looked like some kind of legal contract. The man explained that it was a contract, but it wasn’t for Penta, it was for his wife. The man went on to say that he told his wife that he had “Zero Fear” when he resolved to divorce her.
Lucha Underground: A Turning Point
When asked about joining Lucha Underground Penta said that he was the last one they recruited for the short lived but critically acclaimed promotion. Penta said that they originally only wanted high flyers including his brother Rey Fenix.
As Penta recalls, he was the last of five AAA wrestlers recruited to take part in the brand new and experimental American-televised promotion, Lucha Underground. A blend of wrestling and cinema produced by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and Mark Burnett, a producer best known for his reality TV hits such as “The Voice,” “The Apprentice,” and “Survivor,” one of the original reality TV competition shows, Lucha Underground was in many ways, a genre of its own.
The show combined Burnett’s sense of reality with Rodriguez’ dark storytelling. And for much of the series, the character of Pentagon Jr.
Lucha Underground 2/17/16: Prince Puma vs Pentagon Jr. - FULL MATCH
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Debuting in the series’ third episode, it didn’t take long for the Pentagon Jr. character to become a fan favorite. It was this match that as Penta himself tells it, made him a star and led to him receiving offers to work more extensively across the United States.
In a podcast interview with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Vampiro revealed that he wasn’t supposed to be Pentagon Jr’s opponent at Ultima Lucha but after Pentagon Jr’s original opponent backed out of the match. Vampiro went up to creative and requested to work the match with Pentagón Jr. and put him over because of how over Pentagón Jr. Vampiro wrestled this match AGAINST the advice of his doctor who told him that due to the size of his heart and his weight that if he wrestled he could suffer a heart attack. This ended up being the match that made Penta a star.
Independent Circuit and Impact Wrestling
After that match Penta says that he became known worldwide and it generated a lot of work in the United States in particular. Penta tore things up on the independent scene for a few years until he landed in Impact wrestling and even won the Impact world Championship.
Overall, Penta’s singles run in IMPACT was largely forgettable. Still, the promotion did provide a televised platform for Penta and Fenix to showcase their abilities as a tag team, something that was never really utilized during their time in LU.
Among these matches included a return to AAA for the first time since early 2017, and time spent in MLW, DEFY, Warrior Wrestling, the Crash, and CMLL to name a few. Penta wrestled for over 50 companies that year, compiling 162 total matches.
The Lucha Brothers had become household names at this point, popping up at every major indie and seen widely on TV through MLW and IMPACT. It was pretty inevitable what was going to happen next and in 2019, with no signs of Lucha Underground reaching a fifth season, both Penta and Fenix signed non-exclusive deals to join AEW.
All Elite Wrestling (AEW)
Having already wrestled in IMPACT, MLW, and AAA among others that year, the brothers made their debut at Double or Nothing in May, losing their AAA tag team titles to the Young Bucks. When Lucha Underground was officially canceled before its fifth season, all talent were released from their stringent contracts and free to pursue opportunities elsewhere.
For Penta and Fenix, that meant a full-time commitment to AEW. The two wrestled exclusively as a unit, much like they had on the indies and in several of their prior televised promotions, nearly capturing the tag titles in a tournament held in mid-2019.
In March 2020, Penta and Fenix joined with PAC as Death Triangle and together, the trio had much success, though much of it came later in their run. Penta continued wrestling alongside PAC but 2021 really served as the year he made any sort of singles impact in AEW. Though, that run was short-lived, as once Fenix returned the brothers finally had their moment, winning the AEW tag team titles at All Out while simultaneously being AAA champions as well.
Throughout 2023, the Lucha Brothers didn’t taste much success as a duo, though Penta once again found himself with a chance at singles glory, falling just short of opportunities to win gold in both Ring of Honor and AEW.
Death Triangle battled the Elite in a best-of-seven series to mark the end of 2022 into 2023, where Penta found himself once again losing a title to the Young Bucks as a new year began. The new year didn’t bring much success for the Lucha Brothers with Fenix again battling a period of injury.
Injury woes to Fenix again left Penta with singles chances in 2024, though his role in AEW was already on the backburner by this point. He wrestled his last match for the promotion in July and wrestled his last match overall in September.
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
Now, over four years later, WWE has made an offer and it comes at a time when the Lucha Brothers seem to both be ready to say goodbye to AEW. Amidst a jam-packed show, WWE aired the final in a series of vignettes, revealing Penta’s name.
Like many luchadors of Mexican fame, little is known about the 39-year-old Penta, including his real name. A luchador who has never been unmasked, Penta is a man of mystery and a man of many names. He began his career as Zaius before becoming the ninth wrestler to take on the famed Pentagon mantle, arguably destroying the curse that came with the name.
With Penta headed to WWE and Fenix unable to join him for some time, this marks the first time the brothers won’t be in the same promotion. From their earliest days in AAA to LU, IMPACT, MLW, and AEW, the brothers have always been a unit. But for now, Penta is set to be all on his own and ready to craft his most significant career singles run since his time in LU over a decade ago.
Penta never really had the chance to be a singles star in AEW, at least not to the extent he did in LU, a role that truly put him on the map. Make no mistake, the Lucha Brothers are a fantastic tag team but for those who don’t know, Penta is also a more than capable singles star. And in WWE, at least for the time being, he’ll likely get to showcase that side and that talent.
After months of speculation and vignette teases, WWE’s Raw on Netflix debut revealed what most had already suspected, that Pentagon Jr. Later on in the night, they expounded on his imminent debut as Chad Gable looked to call out the best luchador walking planet Earth.
As 2020 came to a close, a world title tournament saw Penta lock horns with his brother. As Fenix was starting to get pushed by AEW into the singles spotlight, an injury sidelined him along with the Lucha Brothers’ long-awaited tag team title pursuit. But in September, things began to turn around as Death Triangle won the World Trios Championships for the first time in their near-three-year run.
Following the end of Lucha Underground and the 2020 expiration of their non-compete, rumors began to speculate that both Penta and Fenix were headed to WWE. However according to Penta, at the time, WWE made no significant offer, whereas AEW did.
Accomplishments and Legacy
Penta’s father ended up far exceeding doctors expectations and is still alive today! Pentagón Jr. Match of the Year (2018) vs.
The following table summarizes Pentagón Jr.'s major achievements across different wrestling promotions:
| Promotion | Championship/Achievement | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Lucha Underground | Lucha Underground Champion | N/A |
| Impact Wrestling | Impact World Champion | N/A |
| AAA | Latin American Champion | N/A |
| AAA | World Tag Team Championship | N/A |
| AEW | AEW World Tag Team Championship | N/A |
Ranked No. Pro Wrestling Match of the Year (2021) - with Rey Fénix vs. Pentagón Jr. Pentagón Jr. Pentagón Jr.