Getty George Kittle with the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico.
When San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle made his way to the podium for his media availability session following Monday Night Football, he did so wearing the mask of Penta El Zero M, who is currently one-third of the AEW World Trios Champions, Death Triangle.
While this shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise for the media members in attendance, as Kittle is a noted fan of professional wrestling and Penta is a noted fan of the 49ers, so much so that he gave the Pro Bowl-awarded tight end a custom helmet lucha libre mask before the game, it’s hard to imagine Kittle would have worn his custom mask to the session had the team been blown out of the water by their division rivals.
Fortunately, the Niners beat the proverbial bricks off of the Arizona Cardinals to the point where both teams turned to their backup quarterbacks, and Kittle led the way in the game with one of his best stat lines of the season, catching four of the six passes thrown his way for 84 yards and two touchdowns.
After catching just one pass against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 10, Kittle finished out the game with the third-most targets and third-most catches on the team behind only Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey, and actually surpassed all of his teammates in receiving yards at 84. Even if his individual targets wax and wane depending on how opposing defenders choose to play him, it’s clear any fears of Kittle tumbling down the 49ers’ offensive hierarchy following his Week 10 performance were severely overblown.
George Kittle Details His Friendship With the AEW Champ
Speaking with reporters after the game, Kittle was asked about his relationship with Penta El Zero M, or Pentagon Jr. as he’s known to fans of Lucha Libre AAA, and the All-Pro tight end peeled back the curtain on their long-standing friendship.
“I met Penta back in 2018 at WrestleMania in New Orleans,” Kittle said. “We met there multiple times, I use his celebration ‘Cero Miedo,’ I just think he’s got a different swagger to him and he’s got this mildly disrespectful swagger to him that I really, really, I take that to heart. We get to hang out every once in a while, every wrestling show I see him at, he was at the game to night and gave me a new mask, he sends me all of my masks, so big shout out to him. And we always stay in touch, which is fun, because he’s a superstar, so it’s kind of fun to be friends with him.”
Speaking to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated just before the Niners’ last Super Bowl appearance in 20202, Penta shared a similar affinity for Kittle.
“It is an honor that an athlete like George would do that during a game,” said Pentagon, who, per lucha tradition, does not reveal his name or age in interviews. “I have a lot of respect for him as an athlete, and even more as a person since we became friends.”
Mexico City Feels Like A Second Home for the 49ers
After taking the field in front of a crowd featuring 82 percent 49ers fans, according to vivid seats, Kittle was asked about how it felt to play in Mexico City and whether or not the experience lived up to his expectations.
“It definitely delivered,” Kittle told the reporters. “I’ll say this, I saw the game in Germany and those fans were just so happy for football to be there, and coming down here and I know it was mostly Niners fans too, so I knew the fans were going to show out. The reception we got at the hotel last night was incredible, the fans here tonight were fantastic, it just had a completely different energy to it and you could tell just how much it meant to each and every fans that was there. And then the lights shots during the fourth quarter was probably the coolest moment of my career.”
Kyle Shanahan, too, commented on how cool it was to play in front of the crowd in Mexico.
“Man, I love San Francisco, but if we can’t be there, I love to be here. This place is awesome. That was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever been a part of.