WWE made a huge deal out of former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez's debut, going so far as to have him headline their first episode of SmackDown on FOX. He'd later battle Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, but a surprise loss followed, and he was then sidelined with an injury. Last year, WWE released Velasquez due to "budget cuts."
During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, the MMA fighter admitted to being disappointed with his match against Lesnar.
"It is what it is. 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."
"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. 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."
Something that made the match with Lesnar a huge draw was the fact Velasquez actually defeated Lesnar for real at UFC 121 in 2010. That bout saw him win the UFC Heavyweight Championship, so you have to believe that there was some tension between the two men heading into that match, right?
"There’s always going to be friction there," Velasquez admitted. "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?"
While he'll return to AAA in December, it's unclear whether Velasquez will ever step back into a WWE ring. There have never really been any rumblings about an AEW debut either, but providing he continues to develop as an in-ring competitor, we're sure the door isn't closed to him in either company.