Penta emerged victorious from a six-pack ladder match for his Intercontinental Championship at WWE WrestleMania 42 on Sunday. 

JD McDonagh, Rusev, and Dragon Lee had each made their entrances during the commercial break, with Rey Mysterio entering first on broadcast with gear inspired by Marvel’s “Deadpool.” Je’Von Evans made the next entrance in gear akin to Kofi Kingston, and Intercontinental Champion Penta entered in gear inspired by “Shao Kahn” from “Mortal Kombat.”

Mysterio and Penta each went through a ladder bridged between the apron and the announcer’s desk that had Rusev laid on it, using him as a crash pad landing putting him through it. McDonagh hit a Spanish Fly off of a ladder in the ring to Lee. 

He and Penta then fought at the top of the ladder, with McDonagh hooking the champion for a suplex through another ladder bridged between the corner and the one they were on; Penta maneuvered out of it and delivered a Mexican Destroyer onto the ladder, which did not break on landing, spiking McDonagh’s head on the unforgiving aluminum. 

Evans climbed to the top and clasped the title, but then Rusev removed the ladder to let him hang there for a while. He freed him from his tussle with gravity before dumping him out of the ring and climbing the ladder for himself. Evans had climbed up onto the opposing corner as he did so, and delivered an OG Cutter to drop Rusev. 

Penta returned to the ring and dropped Evans with a Mexican Destroyer, climbing the ladder and claiming the title as his opponents could only watch on. 

WWE WrestleMania 42 Sunday began with a clash of giants. In Las Vegas, meteoric upstart Oba Femi overcame his biggest challenge in his young career in Brock Lesnar (accompanied by Paul Heyman), as Lesnar, seemingly, ended his own.

The match began in gridlock, as Femi and Lesnar equally traded lock-ups, clotheslines, and slams. Where Femi met Lesnar in terms of mass, however, Lesnar had the rookie beat in experience, as a trip to the outside resulted in a one-way ticket to Suplex City for the young “NXT” export. An F5 seemed to seal Femi’s fate, but as Lesnar went to screech the crowd, Femi rose to his feet to deliver a Chokeslam and sit-out Sit-Out Powerbomb for the win. With a single three-count, “The Ruler” tamed “The Beast,” and Allegiant Stadium rang out with cheers of wild approval.

As Femi tipped an imaginary cowboy cap to the downed veteran, Allegiant Stadium’s cheers quickly turned into cries of shock. Lesnar sat up, and began removing his gloves and unlacing his boots. As “Thank you Brock” cheers rang out through Las Vegas, Paul Heyman knelt in the ring before his long-time partner. Lesnar flashed an “X,” the industry sign for an injury, before embracing Heyman.

Femi made his main roster debut at the 2026 Royal Rumble, where he scored five eliminations and first stood face-to-face with “The Beast Incarnate.” He has been practically unstoppable since, with a six-match win streak heading into WrestleMania 42. Lesnar debuted in WWE in 2002 after a promising career in collegiate wrestling, and made his name off of hard-hitting suplexes, ice-cold stoicism, and seven WWE world title reigns. His appearances on WWE programming have been sporadic since he was alluded to, then named, in former WWE employee Janel Grant’s sexual abuse and trafficking lawsuit against former WWE CEO Vince McMahon and other former WWE officials.

Night one of WWE WrestleMania 42 was quite divisive amongst fans, and the main event of the night added to online discourse, as many expected Randy Orton to win his 15th world championship from Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. “The American Nightmare” retained, however, after a bloody bout, but Orton stood tall at the end after delivering a punt kick to his former friend. According to a new report, Rhodes retaining on the “Grandest Stage of Them All” wasn’t always the plan.

According to BodySlam+, sources said that Orton was at one point scheduled to win the championship at WrestleMania, but the decision to have Rhodes retain the gold was changed in recent weeks. Fightful Select also reported there was “heavy consideration” into Orton becoming champion at WrestleMania, but plans changed.

BodySlam+ reported that the company knew the feud between the former Legacy stablemates was going to continue, which was then easy to assume after the post-match beatdown by Orton that ended in the previously banned move. As WrestleMania 42 went off the air, a bloodied Orton was holding the Undisputed WWE Championship aloft over a fallen Rhodes, post-punt kick.

It’s not yet clear if Orton and Rhodes will face-off for the title again at WWE Backlash, set for Tampa, Florida on May 9. Rhodes suffered an orbital socket injury in the match, which left his eye swollen shut. “The American Nightmare” also required three stitches to his face and four staples to his head. WWE revealed on the night two pre-show that Rhodes was not medically cleared following the bout and post-match attack, and his appearances on Sunday at WWE World were canceled.