Just hours after taking down Brock Lesnar, former UFC Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez spoke to ESPN in a 10-minute video where he discussed how the angle came about, his future, UFC, and advice he sought before agreeing to come on board.
Velasquez, who beat Lesnar in 2010 in the UFC, said that he got the same rush he got back then when he came out and stepped in the ring with the new WWE champion. He said it’s a different world, but the feeling was the same and he was really happy with how everything went down.
He put over WWE and Rey Mysterio, saying that the company was very welcoming to him when last year he went to the Performance Center for a week to train there and his love for the business grew thanks to that week. He said he talked to AEW and Cody Rhodes and Tony Khan but WWE is where he wants to be at the moment. He said he did not sign a deal yet but is very close to being done.
The deal to be on Smackdown was only wrapped a day or so ago and after talking to Vince McMahon and Triple H on telephone, he finally got to meet both of them before the show. He discussed how both are larger than life and referred to the boss as Mr McMahon.
Cain said that UFC were supportive of his decision to come to WWE and Dana White also gave his blessing, something that meant a lot to him. The UFC will always be there if he wants to go back to fighting but right now, wrestling is where he wants to be.
When asked if he sought advice from anyone before taking the decision, Velasquez said that he talked to Ronda Rousey’s husband Travis Browne, CM Punk, and Daniel Cormier. He said Browne was full of praise of WWE and recounted how much fun Ronda had wrestling while Cormier was also very supportive being a big WWE fan himself. Cain was quizzed on what CM Punk told him, and he replied saying that Punk told him to be a team player and anything he does in there is for the best of the company.