As Michael Cole said on commentary, it was the worst kept secret in WWE, but despite many people being able to see Penta's debut on the January 13 episode of "WWE Raw" coming from a mile away, the former AEW star's arrival in WWE has received universal acclaim. Penta defeated Chad Gable in the show's opening contest, before cutting a post-match promo expressing how grateful he is to be getting such a big opportunity. However, there were reports after "Raw" concluded that the newest member of the WWE locker room had attracted some heat for his match and promo going long to the point that other talent had their segments shortened.

According to Fightful Select, the report of Penta going over time was true as his match was internally listed for one segment (which are simply ways to break up commercial breaks), while his promo went much longer that WWE expected, but the rumor of Penta having heat wasn't true. Fightful spoke to a WWE higher-up that claimed they hadn't heard of any heat on the former AEW star, and if there was heat, it should be directed at whoever decided the show needed a hard out.

WWE have much more flexibility when it comes to timing "Raw" now that the show is on Netflix, but the company was trying to stick to a specific time of two hours and thirty minutes so that talent could catch their flights home after the show. This squashes the rumor of the talent having heat with Penta for having things cut from the show, which Fightful not only confirmed to be false, but that the talent who were at the show in San Jose, California were extremely happy for him and his family as they all knew what the moment meant to him.