AEW's Penta El Zero M Involved In Emotional Unmasking At Triplemania XXX: Mexico City

The final of AAA's Rulete de la Muerte tournament played out last night.

by Andrew Pollard
Penta El Zero M AAA Triplemania XXX Mexico City
AAA

In the culmination of the Rulete de la Muerte tournament that's played out across all three of this year's Triplemania XXX events, last night's Mexico City show saw Penta El Zero M defeated Villano IV in a Mask vs. Mask contest.

Picking up his first ever Mask vs. Mask victory, Penta secured the win by pinning Villano IV after a third arm breaker.

Post-match, Villano IV unmasked and was revealed as 57-year-old Tomas Diaz Mendoza. Mendoza, Penta and plenty of those in attendance were all extremely emotional at the conclusion of this bout.

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While this was the first time that Penta El Zero M had competed in a Mask vs. Mask match, he had previously put his mask on the line twice before - first against Sami Callihan in a Mask vs. Hair offering, then in a four-way cage match back at Triplemania XXVI.

The Rulete de la Muerte tournament has spanned Triplemania XXX: Monterrey in April, Triplemania XXX: Tijuana in June, and last night's Triplemania XXX: Mexico City. Starting off with eight competitors paired off in four singles matches at Monterrey, the losers of those four bouts advanced to the semi-finals at Tijuana. With Penta losing to Blue Demon Jr., and Villano IV losing to Psycho Clown in June, that put Penta and Villano IV on a collision course for last night's event.

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For Tomas Diaz Mendoza, he made his in-ring debut in 1982 and took on the Villano IV moniker and mask the following year. While he's competed extensively for AAA and CMLL over the decades, Villano IV is also fondly rememebred by many for his spell in WCW from 1996 to 2000, where he often teamed with his brother Villano V.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.