Dave Meltzer believes Penta is a stronger selection for a WWE World Championship run than LA Knight in 2026. Following Penta’s Cash within the Financial institution win, Meltzer additionally argued {that a} cash-in on SmackDown may present WWE with better measurable tv worth.
Penta captured the boys’s Cash within the Financial institution contract Saturday in New Orleans and introduced a custom-made “Dinero En El Banco” briefcase on Monday’s Uncooked. WrestlingHeadlines lined his ladder match win and his look on Uncooked.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Garrett Gonzales advised Penta may select a future date and venue for his cash-in. Meltzer favored ready till after WrestleMania and defined why SmackDown could be his most popular vacation spot.
“It’s in all probability greatest to attend till after WrestleMania anyway. But when Oba is the champion, it’s going to be fairly laborious for them to ebook anybody to beat Oba. That’s why I believe that it’s in all probability higher for him to beat the SmackDown champion, particularly as a result of, for the great of the corporate financially, he’s rather a lot higher off on SmackDown, the place him as world champion would make a distinction within the rankings the way in which it might not a lot on Uncooked. It will clearly assist in Mexico on Uncooked, however the one quantity that you simply see is that this conglomerated quantity. In america, it might assist there too, in fact, however you don’t see that quantity a lot, whereas the SmackDown quantity you see, and he could be a distinction maker there as a result of they’re counting Hispanic viewers a lot extra, and he’s over.”
That’s Meltzer’s enterprise evaluation, not a report that WWE has determined to maneuver Penta or ebook him to defeat a SmackDown champion. Penta has not introduced a cash-in date or opponent.
Meltzer then contrasted Penta with LA Knight as a possible world champion. He cited the viewers efficiency of Penta’s September match in opposition to Roman Reigns in Mexico Metropolis, which WrestlingHeadlines reported drew 3.1 million international Netflix views.
“Once they do the LA Knight factor, my thought was, okay, you bought Penta otherwise you acquired LA Knight as your option to be a world champion. In 2026, Penta’s the man, not LA Knight. The early Netflix numbers for King of the Ring have been nothing spectacular. The numbers for Penta and Roman Reigns have been completely spectacular.”
Meltzer was making a comparability between two fashionable wrestlers, not reporting that they’re competing for a selected introduced title alternative. Penta’s cash-in goal, timing and final result stay unannounced.
The identical episode additionally addressed WWE’s deliberate Crown Jewel journey. WrestlingHeadlines lined Meltzer’s security evaluation individually.
