"Not as strong as the hype" - Veteran has not liked Penta in WWE (Exclusive)

Penta has already wrestled two matches for WWE on Monday Night RAW, but Bill Apter does not like the company's presentation of the superstar. Having arrived from AEW with much fanfare, WWE rolled out Penta's debut in a grand way and booked him to wrestle against Chad Gable on the second RAW episode on Netflix.

Penta not only won his first in-ring assignment but secured another victory in his follow-up match against Pete Dunne. While the Mexican star is undefeated, Bill Apter was unhappy with Penta taking a lot of offense in his early days.

While speaking on The Wrestling Time Machine, Apter clarified that he has always been a fan of Penta but wasn't too hyped about his work thus far in WWE.

The veteran journalist questioned the structure of Penta's matches and would have rather preferred having him win convincingly against enhancement talent.

Apter explained:

"I am a fan of his. I'm not a fan of what's being done with Penta. If you rewind back, when he made his debut match, I got a lot of heat for comments saying Chad Gable came out on top as far as I was concerned. The next day I thought about Chad Gable, not about Penta, because Penta took quite a beating in that match. It also looked like he hurt his leg, etc. I would have liked to have seen Penta against, what they used to call a job guy, or squash match for his debut." [8:30 - 9:05]

Bill Apter stressed that he has admired Penta since his days at Lucha Underground and was glad to see WWE fans appreciate the star's unique look.

However, regarding the in-ring performance, Bill Apter is still yet to be satisfied:

"So, it's not like I'm not a fan of Penta, I liked him in Lucha Underground. I liked him in AEW. And the fans are going crazy for him. For his costume, he gets a 10. But the work in the ring is not as strong as the hype." [9:25 - 9:54]

---

Bill Apter explains the fundamental issue with Penta's WWE matches

WWE has often been criticized for its "50-50 booking," and Apter was afraid the promotion had already made a mistake with Penta.

While Penta should have looked at his dominant best, WWE allowed his competitors to have their say for most of the match. Bill Apter argued that Penta should have been given at least three-quarters of the match to showcase his capabilities without needing to sell his opponent's moves.

Bill Apter noticed a similar problem with the Motor City Machine Guns, who kept getting beaten down in their matches despite being portrayed as a big-time tag team upon their debut.

"They are giving 50-50 matches with both Pete Dunne and Chad Gable. I think that they need to do is give a 75-25 to Penta while they are building him up. He is great in the ring, obviously he is legendary from what he has done before. This is similar to what I said about the Motor City Machine Guns." [10:50 onwards]

Penta still has a long way to go in the WWE and a few alterations in his matches could enhance his on-screen aura as one of the best luchadors in the world.

---

Please credit The Wrestling Time Machine and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.