Last week, the final minutes of SmackDown’s debut on Fox saw Brock Lesnar destroy Kofi Kingston in seconds to win the WWE Championship. Before he could celebrate, Cain Velasquez made his WWE debut and attacked Lesnar.
Cain Velasquez was not signed to a WWE contract at that time, although the two sides were working on a deal.
That deal is complete.
ESPN reports Cain Velasquez just signed a lucrative multi-year deal with WWE.
As we reported last night, WWE announced in a press conference today that Lesnar and Velasquez would battle at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia on Halloween.
ESPN also reported that Cain Velasquez officially notified UFC that he is retiring from MMA and was removed from both the UFC’s United States Anti-Doping Agency drug-testing pool and the UFC heavyweight rankings.
“This is definitely my focus,” Velasquez said. “My family is into it. They love it. They’re super excited. I haven’t seen them excited over something like this in a while. It’s cool.”
Velasquez made his professional wrestling debut at the biggest Mexican wrestling event of the year at TripleMania XXVII. At that show, he teamed with AEW EP Cody Rhodes and Psycho Clown to beat Los Mercenarios’ Texano Jr., Taurus and Killer Kross.
He wore a mask and wrestled with a Lucha Libre style.
#TriplemaníaXXVII ¡Debut y triunfo para @cainmma!🔝😎😱👏🙌
"El Toro" demostró que no venía de paseo y con un candado al brazo venció a @ElTexanoJr.
🔛🔴¡EN VIVO por @Twitch – @TwitchES!
🇲🇽 ➡ https://t.co/ajqXTWrKwS
🇺🇸 ➡ https://t.co/ACYaeiKD84 pic.twitter.com/8xG0enjM1x— Lucha Libre AAA (@luchalibreaaa) August 4, 2019
Cain Velázquez got them moves! #TriplemaniaXXVII pic.twitter.com/hgEl4aTFh8
— RebelxEnemy fan ❄ Roy (@narukiroy) August 4, 2019
Fans who get excited thinking of Cain Velasquez pulling out the mask and wrestling a Lucha style in WWE will be disappointed. Despite him wrestling in honor of Rey Mysterio, WWE reportedly told Velasquez he can’t wrestle the Lucha style.
That means the Brock Lesnar match at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia will likely be in an MMA style, with Lesnar likely fighting someone at his own level and style for the first time in a very long time.
Cain Velasquez is the man who legitimately beat Brock Lesnar in UFC to win the heavyweight title.
With Velasquez officially signed to WWE with a long-term deal in place, there is a good chance he shows up on SmackDown on Fox tonight as the WWE Draft begins.
WWE SmackDown airs on Fox on Friday nights at 8/7c.