WWE SNME 5/23: Penta Survives Ethan Page Scare to Remain the Intercontinental Champion

Penta retained the Intercontinental Championship in a brilliant match against Ethan Page at WWE SNME this weekend.

WWE SNME 5/23: Penta Survives Ethan Page Scare to Remain the Intercontinental Champion

Penta beat Ethan Page at SNME [via- WWE]

This weekend at WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event (SNME) special, Penta had his work cut out as he went up against Ethan Page to keep his Intercontinental Championship reign intact. This was Page’s first crack at championship gold on the main roster and undoubtedly his biggest match till date.

While he couldn’t win the title, Page kept pace with Penta and pushed him to the limits. At one point, Penta got launched right into the commentary desk by Page, who had just recovered from a kick to the face. Penta’s lower spine bore the brunt of that counter from Page.

Later on, as the match progressed, the longest-reigning NXT North American Champion went for the Ego Plex, but the champ reversed it into a Penta Driver for a near fall. A sequence where it seemed like the Canuck would score the win was when he planted the Mexican wrestler with an avalanche slam, which came about after Page grabbed Penta’s mask while both were perched on the ropes.

The champ kicked out of it, and Page was utterly shocked. The latter took away the protective turnbuckle padding to throw the referee off and engage him in placing it back so that he could pull one out from another corner. ‘The All Ego One’ drove Penta face-first into the exposed steel and went for the cover, but the referee was late to respond, which made Page go ballistic.

After venting his spleen at the referee, the 36-year-old tried driving Penta into the exposed turnbuckle once again. However, it didn’t work this time around, and it was Page’s turn to catch the exposed steel. It opened him for the Mexican Destroyer, which was all Penta needed to pin the former AAA mixed tag team champ and retain the Intercontinental Championship.

Ethan Page took to social media after losing and said he could complain about Penta stealing a move originally minted in his home country of Canada and renaming it Mexican Destroyer and then beating him with it. The former AEW star was glad about the IC title getting the deserved spotlight at SNME in a match against the man who doesn’t hide his face and would carry the belt with immense pride around the globe to fight anybody.

The fact that it wasn’t to be at SNME upset him the most. But Page said it’s something he could fix. The IC title picture over on Raw also has the likes of Je’Von Evans and Rusev gunning for the title. With Page still in the hunt, a fatal-4-way showdown for the gold doesn’t seem a far cry from happening soon.

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Becky Lynch hands Sol Ruca DQ win at SNME, now forced to defend her title at Clash in Italy

In the second match of the night at SNME, Becky Lynch took on Sol Ruca in a non-title match. ‘The Man’ went after Ruca even before the bell rang. The match could barely last a couple of minutes as Lynch pulled the referee in when Ruca went for the Sol Snatcher. The lady ref Jessica Carr consequently called off the match and disqualified the ‘Big Time Becks’ for grabbing her like that.

Becky Lynch suffered a DQ loss to Sol Ruca at SNME
Becky Lynch suffered a DQ loss to Sol Ruca at SNME [via- WWE]

While the referee was wise to Lynch’s chicanery, her decision to end the match did collateral damage to Sol Ruca, who, although she was announced as the winner, wouldn’t have wanted to go about it that way. Ruca was checking on the referee for inadvertently hitting the Sol Snatcher on her. Lynch came from behind and dropped the recent NXT call-up with a Manhandle Slam.

The Irishwoman inflicted more damage on the 26-year-old by repeating the maneuver two more times before leaving. Lynch ran into SmackDown GM Nick Aldis backstage afterwards and got told that she will now put the women’s Intercontinental Championship on the line in a rematch with Sol Ruca at Clash in Italy.

‘The Man’ lost it and alleged unprecedented corruption in her workplace. Even though what happened at SNME wouldn’t feel like an actual victory to Ruca, she now has a golden opportunity to win her first singles title on the main roster in less than a month after her official promotion to Raw.

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