During a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s “MMA Hour” podcast, Cain Velasquez commented on his release from WWE, if he regrets going to WWE, working with Brock Lesnar, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his WWE release: “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.”
On if he regrets going to WWE: “I don’t. I think it was meant for me to go there. I’m glad I got the experience of knowing what it’s all about. Knowing how the company works, how the guys work, everything. It was a great learning experience. I learned a lot from it. All I can do is take that and make it better next time if they give me another chance or just know what that is and appreciate my time.”
On his match with Brock Lesnar at WWE Crown Jewel 2019: “It is what it is. That was just me going into it and trying to figure out what it was. It was all thrown at me at once, a new organization. I was there for whatever anybody needed to have me build into whatever they wanted to build into. That didn’t happen on this turn, I’m sorry to everyone that got let down. That hurt me as well because I expect a lot out of myself. I expect more for myself. They wanted me to stay in the MMA zone and have that rivalry with Brock, but they weren’t really willing to put the time in to have us work together to totally do that, they wanted us to do that.”
On working with Lesnar: “We didn’t work much, but talking to him for a little bit, I just know where he comes from, just from that little time spent. Very little. I know what he’s about and I respect him for that. What you see when he performs, that’s him. That persona when he’s out there, that’s him. That’s his true self. Close quarters, he’s obviously more human, but that’s him. I saw that. That’s his whole being and talking to him, I could see it.”
On if he wishes he could have kept his Lucha style in WWE: “Of course. That’s who I am. I felt good with that style, but, I don’t know if they saw that it wouldn’t work, but that, to me and everyone else was a clear path, but that’s not what they chose.”
(h/t – Fightful)
