After the fiery Raw debut of Penta (fka Pentagon Jr/Penta el Zero M) on Netflix, social media was abuzz about potential dream matches for Penta in his new home, but it seemed like two former opponents received more attention than most others.
Penta had legendary matches in Lucha Underground against two current WWE talents, Iyo Sky and Chelsea Green, and while it’s unlikely that WWE will run back these intergender matches, it seems like Lucha Underground nostalgia is currently at a peak. (See our Lucha Underground archive to revive memories or it is available in the US on Amazon Prime.)
Wrestling collectors such as myself regularly mourn the fact that there wasn’t an official Lucha Underground trading card set, but with as many Lucha Underground alumni as there are currently wrestling in WWE, AEW, and other organizations, it’s possible to gather a nice collection of Lucha Underground alumni trading cards, if you know what to look for.
Let’s begin with the man of the hour, Penta. Not long after Penta’s Raw debut, Topps announced he would receive a Topps NOW card, celebrating his big moment. Sold for a limited amount of time, Penta’s first WWE card states, “Mexican luchador flashes dominance in WWE debut.” And while this is Penta’s first WWE trading card, it’s far from his first wrestling card ever.
Of course, Penta has several years worth of AEW Upper Deck trading cards to collect, as Penta el Zero M, and a variety of independent wrestling card releases, but if you’re looking for something earlier, you can find his card in the 2018 All In set, which might see a nice increase in value, thanks to his recent debut, but even further back, Penta is in Pro Wrestling Guerilla’s (PWG) 2016 Battle of Los Angeles trading card set, which many consider his rookie card.
Next, let’s take a look at two of Penta’s most viral competitors, Iyo Sky and Chelsea Green.
Iyo Sky wrestled as Hitokiri in Lucha Underground, where she went one on one versus Penta (then Pentagon Dark) on episode 13 of season three, and while this match took place before her appearance in the Mae Young Classic, Sky’s earliest wrestling cards can be found in a variety of Japanese wrestling card releases. Sky’s rookie card could be considered her 2008 BBM True Heart card, but if you’re looking for slightly more affordable and easier to find cards, Sky has many Japanese wrestling cards before she signed with NXT.
Funny enough, the same can be said about another Penta opponent, Chelsea Green. As Reklusa, Green faced Pentagon Dark in October 2018, during the fourth season of Lucha Underground. But while Sky actually defeated Penta, Green wasn’t so lucky, even though it was a hard hitting and competitive match. Similar to Sky, Green now has a wide selection of wrestling cards documenting her career in the business, from recent Panini WWE cards to Topps NXT cards, and several independent cards produced by the Major Wrestling Figure Podcast. Green even has a card in the 2018 All In set, along with Penta, but for her rookie, you’ve got to look to the 2017 Stardom Collection set, which has a pretty ridiculous checklist, including the formerly mentioned Iyo Sky, Kairi Sane, Toni Storm, Tessa Blanchard, and Deonna Purrazzo.
Before he had matches against Sky and Green, Penta faced a WWE legend in the first episode of the third season of Lucha Underground, in September 2016. In the main event of the episode, Penta faced Rey Mysterio Jr. for the first time in their illustrious careers. This was during a time when Mysterio was in between WWE contracts, while he was wrestling for AAA, Lucha Underground, and other wrestling organizations. Obviously, Mysterio has decades worth of trading cards, covering his legendary wrestling career. In what is now a recurring circumstance, Mysterio has a card in the 2018 All In set, but his rookie card dates back to the 1998 Topps WCW/nWo set. Surprisingly, this remains an affordable card, and can often be purchased for less than $10, so among the cards mentioned in this article, this is one of the cheapest and easiest rookie cards to find.
As for Penta’s various Lucha Underground comrades, few are more significant than Vampiro. At first, Vampiro was just a color commentator for season one of Lucha Underground, until it was revealed that Vampiro was Penta’s “master.” Vampiro was defeated by Penta in season one’s Ultima Lucha episode, and then Vampiro served as the mentor of Pentagon Dark for season two. For someone with as long of a wrestling career as Vampiro, he has surprisingly few wrestling cards. If you’re looking for a rare early Vampiro collectible, he has an action figure that was manufactured in 1992 by CMLL (named Vampiro Canadiense) that comes on two different card backs (one more common than the other) but his first wrestling card wasn’t produced until his 1999 Topps WCW Embossed card, which pictures him in an Insane Clown Posse t-shirt. Like Mysterio, Vampiro’s rookie card can be purchased for about $10, but it seems to be less plentiful, and thus harder to find. Either way, I find it amusing that Vampiro and Mysterio both have rookie cards in late 1990s Topps WCW sets.
Another notable Lucha Underground opponent for Penta was Prince Puma, the inaugural Lucha Underground Champion, and first two-time Lucha Underground Champion. The only other two-time Lucha Underground Champion was Penta, so they both played significant roles in the program. From the start, Puma was one of the standout wrestlers and personalities in Lucha Underground, until he was retired by Penta in season three. If you didn’t already know, the masked Prince Puma was none other than Ricochet, who would leave Lucha Underground for WWE. During his time with NXT and later on main roster WWE, Ricochet would amass a pretty big selection of wrestling cards, in both the previous Topps and Panini eras, and now that he’s with AEW, Ricochet even has some recent Upper Deck AEW cards, but to find Ricochet’s rookie card, go back to PWG’s 2016 Battle of Los Angeles set. That’s right, Ricochet’s rookie is in the same PWG set as Penta’s, as well as other notable cards of Will Ospreay, Cody Rhodes, Tommy End (Malakai/Aleister Black), and Zack Sabre Jr., just to name a few.
Yet another masked wrestler Penta faced in Lucha Underground was “The Monster” Matanza Cueto, the storyline brother of Lucha Underground owner Dario Cueto. Matanza was sort of like if Jason Vorhees could do a standing moonsault. Matanza won the Lucha Underground Championship in his very first match, and in his first title defense, he soundly beat Penta until he was carried out on a stretcher, thus establishing him as a dominant force. Well, I can’t be the only one who was surprised to learn that Matanza was Jeff Cobb. Having spent most of his career wrestling in various independent and international markets, Cobb doesn’t have many mainstream North American wrestling cards to date, but he has quite a few independent and Japanese wrestling cards to choose from, and you can find his rookie card in the same 2016 PWG set as Penta and Ricochet.
Over the span of his four dominant seasons on the show, Penta had numerous matches and encounters with other notable Lucha Underground alum, such as Killshot (Swerve Strickland), Johnny Mundo (John Morrison), Cage (Brian Cage), King Cuerno (Santos Escobar), The Mack (Willie Mack), Big Ryck (Ezekial Jackson), Doku (Kairi Sane), Yurei (Mayu Iwatani), and Son of Havoc (Matt Cross), but Penta’s first, and arguably greatest Lucha Underground opponent was his own brother, Fenix (Rey Fenix). In Penta’s first Lucha Underground match, in the third episode of season one, Penta was defeated in a three-way match between Penta, Fenix, and Drago, which led to a multi-match on-screen rivalry between Penta and Fenix. It’s a challenge to briefly summarize the careers and accomplishments of Fenix and Penta (both Lucha Underground champions), who’ve captured single and tag team titles in basically every organization they’ve wrestled for, including Impact, AEW, and Ring of Honor. Contract controversy aside, it’s obviously expected that Rey Fenix will eventually join his brother in WWE, where they will undoubtedly capture gold together once again, but until then, you can find a plethora of wrestling cards of Rey Fenix in Upper Deck AEW sets, as well as the previously mentioned 2018 All In set, and the iconic 2016 PWG Battle of Los Angeles set.
Penta’s WWE debut was an exciting moment for wrestling fans of all ilk. You can’t help but be happy for Penta, who’s already worked a lifetime of matches, and has built a strong name (and catchphrase) for himself, prior to January 2025, and with that has come a reappreciation of his work in Lucha Underground, where he captured gold and shared the ring with multiple talents who would go on to work in WWE, AEW, NJPW, TNA, and numerous indies.
It makes me a little sad to think that Lucha Underground never produced an official trading card set, but with a little research (and an eBay account), you can collect the trading cards of Penta and your favorite Lucha Underground alumni.
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