Backstage Details on Penta Getting Injured on WWE Raw, Planned Finish for Match With Solo Sikoa

During last night’s WWE Raw, Solo Sikoa defeated Penta to advance in The Last Time Is Now Tournament. The match was stopped abruptly, and Sikoa was declared the winner when it appeared Penta was injured after performing a Hurricanrana spot. Dave Meltzer had more details on what happened during today’s Wrestling Observer Radio.

According to Meltzer, Penta’s injury mid-match did not affect the outcome of the match, and Solo Sikoa was always the planned winner of the matchup. Meltzer stated, “I actually found out that he was not going to win. Solo was going to win, and they were going to do Gunther and Solo.”

Meltzer continued, “I thought when that happened I go, ‘Oh my God,’ because I was sure Pentagon was going to win the match just because of the two, right? You would think that, are they going to do Gunther and Solo? Or are they going to do Gunther and Pentagon? And it’s like, Gunther and Pentagon makes so much more sense, but I did find out that Solo was in fact scheduled to win that match.”

Meltzer noted that the ultimate outcome of the match didn’t change, but it ended much earlier than expected after Penta got hurt. He added, “So the finish didn’t change, but it ended probably eight minutes early, six minutes early, something like that, maybe more.”

After defeating Penta on WWE Raw, Solo Sikoa now advances to the semifinals of The Last Time Is Now Tournament. He will face Gunther at a later date, with the winner heading on to the finals.

The winner of the tournament will go on to face John Cena in his final match at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13. The event will be held at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. It will air live on Peacock in the U.S., and on Netflix internationally.