Biggest Winners And Losers Of The Week — 9/21/2026

It’s been another week in the wacky world of professional wrestling, and that means it’s time for the Wrestling Inc. staff to name some winners and losers!

The last seven days have been pretty eventful for a week without a major American wrestling event. WWE kicked off the week on “Raw” with a critically acclaimed World Heavyweight Championship match between Penta and Roman Reigns, then followed things up by announcing a new Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic on “WWE NXT.” Meanwhile, both WWE and AEW are gearing up for this weekend’s double-header, with All Out 2026 and Worlds Collide 2026 taking place on the same night in Chicago. Finally, CMLL had its 93rd Anniversary show, which featured CMLL-turned-AEW talent like reigning National Champion Andrade El Idolo.

Which performers (and concepts) do the WINC crew see as coming out on top over the last week, and which ones are stuck in the mud? That’s what we’re here to find out. Here are your WINC winners and losers for the week of 9/21/2026!

You don’t always have to win to be winner, because despite not becoming the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Penta feels like more of a star than he ever has been right now. 

Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer jokingly dubbed the recent number one contender tournament the “Right to lose against Roman Reigns tournament” and yes, that’s exactly what it ended up becoming because Penta did lose to “the Tribal Chief.” However, in the aftermath of the match, Alvarez also stated that given the wave of crowd support behind him, both live and at home, Penta should have probably won the title. 

WWE did a great job in making people believe that it was possible as well. Sami Zayn won the Undisputed WWE Championship from CM Punk in Mexico City the Friday before on “WWE SmackDown.” Stephanie Vaquer went on to win the WWE Women’s World Championship at a live event in Chile on the Saturday night, and El Grande Americano won the AAA Mega Championship in the main event of night two of AAA TripleMania 34 from Dominik Mysterio on the Sunday. Three title changes in a row with a big title match rounding out the weekend on the Monday, so it was only natural that people thought that it was possible for Penta to win. Plus, he showed up on a horse and looked like the coolest guy in the world.

When it comes to whether or Penta should have won, I would still say no. If the plan is for Oba Femi to take the title off of Reigns, stick to the plan and it will feel like a bigger moment. If you give it to Penta for a few weeks before sinking him back to the midcard, that’s just booking for a pop and that’s just not something that works long-term. With that said, it would have been cool because Penta is a guy who could legitimately be the WWE heir to Rey Mysterio’s “King of Lucha Libre” throne.

Even though he didn’t leave Mexico City with the gold, WWE have to follow up on the momentum Penta has built for himself. The company has a legit money-making star on their hands if the powers that be work it correctly. Think Danhausen but actually being able to work a main event match. He’s got the Mexican market on his side, can sell an absolute boatload of merchandise, and would be a fresh injection into a main event scene that has been all but the same for some time.

Written by Sam Palmer

This could be a very different story in seven days, but at the time of writing, boy has WWE Worlds Collide not landed as an event.

When it was announced, everyone knew exactly what WWE was trying to achieve. AEW All Out 2026 is running on the same day and it was just another case of counterprogramming that really hasn’t worked out for WWE in recent years. However, Worlds Collide came with the added bonus of also taking place in the same city as All Out, Chicago (I understand that Rosemont and Hoffman Estates are nowhere near Chicago but you get the idea). WWE did go for this tactic at the very end of 2024 when the company ran a house show on the same day and same city (Orlando, Florida in this instance) as AEW Worlds End 2024, but that took place when WWE were still seen as the company with all the momentum as opposed to AEW which was still struggling to regenerate the good will it had a few years earlier. 

With all of that said, this tactic simply hasn’t gone according to plan. While Worlds Collide has sold more tickets than All Out by virtue of taking place in a bigger building, All Out has been sold out for more than a week. WWE being in the same city did nothing to hamper AEW’s ticket sales, and if anything, it only encouraged AEW fans to show up for their favorite promotion.

Now we are in a situation where we don’t know if Worlds Collide is going to be aired live, despite having CM Punk, Rey Mysterio, and Penta on the show. One day it’s on YouTube, the next it’s just a house show, then it’s going to be on Club WWE, then it’s back on YouTube but on tape delay, then it’s back to being live again, and it just seems that WWE don’t know what to do with the show because the sole reason it was booked didn’t go according to plan. If it’s not going to hurt AEW, then what’s the point of it at all?

Written by Sam Palmer

It’s no secret that tag team wrestling doesn’t appear to be often valued within WWE, but after a hiatus in 2025, the men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is back on in “WWE NXT.” It’s a step in the right direction for tag wrestling in the company, and even though it’s being presented on the developmental brand, teams from AAA and those who have spent time on the main roster, but haven’t received a lot of TV time in recent memory, will be showcased.

There are 14 teams involved in the tournament, the majority of whom are already established tag teams, rather than thrown-together teams, as WWE has been often known to do. The 2024 winner of the “Dusty Cup” was the team of Bron Breakker and Baron Corbin, known as the Wolf Dogs, but despite being thrown together, following their Dusty Cup victory, they were quite the over team who found a lot of success on “NXT.”

Teams like Birth Right, Fraxiom, Los Americanos, and the Creed Brothers will be participating from WWE, and from AAA, “NXT” fans will see the likes of Mini Vikingo and Chaz “Starboy” Hall, as well as the Tokyo Bad Boys. Even lesser-known teams, such as Harley Riggins and Jax Presley, will get their shot at the prestigious trophy first held by the team of Finn Balor and Samoa Joe back in 2015. It’s a wonderfully varied bracket, yet another thing that doesn’t happen often anymore in WWE.

While it’s unclear just what the winners of the tournament will get, as current NXT Tag Team Champions, Vanity Project’s Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes, as well as AAA Tag Team Champions El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Galeno are participating in the tournament, it’s a step in the right direction for tag team wrestling. Perhaps the winners will get a shot at one of the sets of tag gold on the main roster, as it does feel like these men need something more to fight for. It would also be nice to see a women’s edition of the tournament, but with 14 teams participating on the men’s side, that would highlight how much work still needs to be done when it comes to women’s teams. Beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to WWE, and getting a solid bracket for the men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic feels like a victory, even if all the details aren’t 100 percent fleshed out.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Fans were waiting for former Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes to offer more in his ongoing feud against Randy Orton during his sit-down interview with Michael Cole on Friday’s edition of “WWE SmackDown,” but what they got was more of the same. Rhodes didn’t explain why he chose not to punt Orton in the head at Sunday Night’s Main Event, though Cole tried to get an answer out of him by mentioning Rhodes seems to be betrayed by his friends this way quite a lot, and he always seems to blindly walk right into it.

To make matters worse, WWE continued its new tradition of posting more “unseen” or behind-the-scenes footage on social media, rather than air it on the broadcast immediately to further an angle. Cole alluded to it on commentary briefly, then Triple H posted a video to X (formerly Twitter) of Rhodes telling Cole he’d “kick Orton’s f****** head off” after their interview had ended. It was the line the segment needed, and it really needed to be televised to insert some fire into this feud. It’s likely to play on this coming Friday’s edition of the show, which will feel too late.

The Orton vs. Rhodes feud, which had already lost a lot of momentum, if not the majority of it, going into WrestleMania 42 with the addition of Pat McAfee, is stale, alongside Rhodes’ current gimmick. Though he almost sneakily keeps mentioning Paul Heyman in his promos, Rhodes made it pretty clear in this sit-down that he won’t be turning heel anytime in the future, as he’s found his biggest successes just the way he is now.

If anything came from Rhodes’ interview on Friday, it was the realization amongst many that nothing really new is going to be inserted into this feud. Something has to change, and it doesn’t appear as though Rhodes or WWE are going to make that happen. Fans are still going to cheer Orton at this point in his career, whether he’s a heel or a babyface, so it seems like fans will be stuck with this rather heatless program, until Rhodes maybe decides to punt Orton in the head, possibly at Money in the Bank, then attempts to justify it in his forever-face mindset in yet another rambling, show-opening promo.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Since winning the AEW National Title, Andrade has — slowly but surely — become a true blue star in American wrestling. He’s always been a favorite of more in-depth fans, and a star in Mexico for even longer, but there is something about the way that he has carried himself over the summer that has seen him finally meet the promise of his hype.

I can’t explain it, but there was something about the way Andrade made his entrance at this past weekend’s CMLL 93rd Anniversary Show, where it felt like a triumphant homecoming for a prodigal son. He’s made plenty of CMLL appearances this year, but the special nature of the occasion, as well as his sentimental entrance, which incorporated his La Sombra mask, felt like a capstone to a pretty spectacular summer.

His catchphrase is so over that it has been given the highest honor of a wrestling slogan: It’s been made the opening statement of his entrance music, complete with the crowd chanting along. His regular, blistering National title defenses have re-established him as one of wrestling’s best in-ring performers. Everything you could ask of an upper-midcard champion has been accomplished by Andrade, and the run has made a solid case for him moving beyond the National title, possibly to the world title.

I’m just saying I wouldn’t argue with an Andrade title reign.

Written by Ross Berman