Cain Velasquez made his pro wrestling debut at Triplemanía XXVII in August 2019. Velasquez teamed with Cody & Psycho Clown to defeat Killer Kross, Texano Jr. & Taurus. Velasquez impressed with his lucha libre skills, pulling off a springboard armdrag and hurricanrana.
Speaking to Cultaholic, Velasquez discussed his passion for wrestling being reignited when he attended Elimination Chamber with Daniel Cormier.
“When I was thinking of trying this out, I went to a show a couple of years ago at Ronda Rousey’s Elimination Chamber match. I was there with a buddy, Daniel Cormier, and we had other fighters there as well. So that’s where I kind of retook my interest again into pro wrestling, and before that, I was a fan as a kid. But watching that match, I was having so much fun, I’m like ‘Why not? Can I do that?'”
It should be clarified that Elimination Chamber 2019, which featured Ronda Rousey vs. Ruby Riott, was on Feb. 17, the same night Velasquez had his last UFC fight. Velasquez is referencing Elimination Chamber 2018, where Rousey signed her WWE Raw contract, but did not wrestle.
Velasquez initially wanted to join WWE, even doing work at the Performance Center, but took a different path to AAA Lucha Libre.
“When I did AAA, I called the WWE first, I called them…And I was interested from that match that I saw at Elimination Chamber. This is obviously where the best guys are, this is the top, so Triple H and Vince McMahon weren’t going to give me a shot right away, that was clear. So I said, ‘Okay, let’s do something else.’ I’ve always loved Lucha, Lucha was my first love of wrestling…So I thought why don’t we do a Lucha match….I wanted to wear the mask and do traditional Lucha moves just to pay homage to the people who have done it in the past and they just look f*****g cool as f**k to do.”
Velasquez made his in-ring WWE debut at Crown Jewel, losing to Brock Lesnar. He has stated in a recent interview that he'll be part of the Royal Rumble, though that hasn't been confirmed by WWE.
