Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez opens WWE Crown Jewel main show

In the opening match of the WWE Crown Jewel main card Thursday in Saudi Arabia, WWE Champion Brock Lesnar submitted Cain Velasquez in just a few minutes to retain the title.

Worked like an MMA fight and resembling more of a sparring session, Velasquez threw a few kicks to Lesnar before the two got into the corner and grappled like you would see in an MMA cage. Action moved over to another corner where Velasquez hit a knee to Lesnar’s midsection that dropped him, following up with some ground and pound. However, Velasquez erred and got caught in a kimura, tapping quickly after briefly trying to escape.

Lesnar kept the hold on which prompted Rey Mysterio to enter the ring with a chair. Lesnar dispatched him to the outside of the ring and went back to work on Velasquez, hitting him with chair shots and eventually giving his rival an F5 on the chair. Mysterio re-entered and went to work on Lesnar with wild chair shots before the champion left the ring with Paul Heyman, seemingly setting something up for the future.

After a pair of matches for AAA this year, Velasquez was making his WWE debut and showed none of the lucha style or moves he displayed in those first two matches. He recently signed a multi-year deal with WWE, but it’s unknown if the wrestling rookie will head to NXT or remain on the main roster.

The match was built as a rematch of Lesnar and Velasquez’s 2010 UFC fight where Velasquez defeated Lesnar to win the UFC heavyweight title.