Cain Velasquez Talks WWE Release – Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez has opened up about his WWE release that took place in April 2020.
April 2020 was the first batch of the COVID-19-prompted releases and Velasquez was one of the names let go despite his name value and short tenure under contract.
He only wrestled two matches for WWE, the first being a WWE Championship match against Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel 2019 in Saudi Arabia, and then a house show match in Mexico where he teamed with Humberto Carrillo to beat Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows.
In a new interview with Ariel Helwani, Velasquez said:
“Primarily it was because of COVID. They had to just drop a lot of the roster in order to just keep their core guys in. I just wasn’t developed enough. I really needed to sit down and practice that style of wrestling for a while and develop a lot more. That wasn’t the case, it was more of… I just didn’t get to develop in that way.
“They just didn’t use me. I wasn’t called to go in and have them use me. At one point they told me we were going to do something with the lucha guys and when that time came close, we were deep into COVID and they were like, ‘We’re just doing the shows this way, we just need these core guys’. They just needed me to develop a lot more and I wasn’t there yet. They really couldn’t use me in that way. They weren’t using me enough and they were paying me too much, so they had to let me go. I understand. It’s business.”
Velasquez gave his thoughts on the match against Brock Lesnar.
“It is what it is,” Velasquez admitted. “That was me going into it and really just figuring out what it was. It was all thrown at me at once. I was there for whatever anybody needed, as far as building it to whatever they wanted me to build it to. That didn’t happen around this turnaround. I’m sorry to everyone that I let down. That hurts me as well because I expect a lot out of myself. I expect more for myself.”
Velasquez had made his pro wrestling debut in August of 2019 for AAA. He competed under a mask and impressed many in the pro wrestling world showing his own and utilizing the hurricanrana in impression fashion. However, Velasquez dropped the mask in WWE, and he revealed why that was the case.
“They wanted me to stay in that MMA zone. They wanted me to have a rivalry with Brock, but they weren’t willing to put the time in to have us work together” Velasquez said. “They wanted us to do that, and well, you know how that ended. I felt good in that style (lucha libre). I don’t know if they saw it wouldn’t work. That to me, and I think everyone else, was a clear path, but that’s not what they chose for me.”
Velasquez lost in quick fashion to Lesnar at Crown Jewel to the surprise of many fans since they had seen previous evidence that he could hold his own in the ring. Velasquez spoke on what it was like to work with Lesnar.
“We didn’t work much, but talking to him just for a little bit, just for that little bit, I just know where he comes from,” Velasquez said. “Just in that little time spent, and I mean very little, very little, I know what he’s about, and I respect him for that. What you see out there. What you see when he performs, all that sh*t, he lives it. He breathes it. That’s him. That persona that you see, that’s him out there. That’s his true self. Close quarters, he’s obviously more human, but that’s him. That’s his whole being. I believe that just by talking to him. I can just see it.”
Velasquez had previously defeated Lesnar in the UFC at UFC 121 in 2010 to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Helwani asked Velasquez if there was still some friction between him and Lesnar over that encounter.
“There’s always going to be friction there,” Velasquez noted. “Yeah there was, but we got to work together. I don’t think it mattered. I think it all came down to the development. That’s what it all came down to was that. Once that’s there, it doesn’t matter who you go with. You’re prepared for anything, but me being so green, I’m almost in the middle. What do I do? What do I need to learn because I’m still not sure about it.
“In MMA, I’m so sure about it. In collegiate wrestling, I’m so sure about it. Those types of things I know. These different types of sports, they’re a different rhythm. It’s the opposite of MMA. It’s true. Every movement is the opposite of MMA where you need to show the emotion. You need to show the technique. You need to show the movement and always be opened up so everyone can see, so everyone can see the punch. MMA, it’s the opposite.
“We hide it. No one sees it until it makes contact. We hide our set-ups until we hit it. Everything’s fast. Everything’s A, B, C, no stopping, do it as fast as you can as smoothly as you can, but there, it’s the opposite. Show everyone what you’re doing, A, B, C. For me, it was progression, just a totally different way of competing in a way I’ve never competed before.”
