Cain Velasquez appears on WWE SmackDown, attacks Brock Lesnar

Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez confronted and beat down Brock Lesnar to close WWE SmackDown’s debut on Fox Friday night.

Following Lesnar’s short WWE title win over Kofi Kingston, Velasquez, a rookie pro wrestler who has been in the ring twice for AAA, walked out with Rey Mysterio. Wearing a large left knee brace over his jeans, Velasquez took off his shirt and double-legged Lesnar to the mat, laying in some ground and pound. Lesnar teased going back in the ring to fight, but eventually left with Paul Heyman to close the show.

While not yet announced, it’s assumed Velasquez has signed a WWE contract. AEW’s Cody Rhodes had mentioned they were interested in Velasquez and that he would take him on as a project. ESPN’s Marc Raimondi reported that Velasquez is in “advanced talks” with WWE, but hasn’t signed as of yet. Velasquez said he has been talking with both NJPW and AEW.

The 37-year-old Velasquez took the UFC heavyweight title from Lesnar in October 2010 via first round TKO. After struggling with injuries over the past few years, he returned to the UFC in February and lost to Francis Ngannou in just 26 seconds.

Velasquez is still under UFC contract, and it’s unclear what his status is with the company. WWE and UFC have a history of working together when situations like this arise as Lesnar returned to UFC for a fight at UFC 200. There’s also Ronda Rousey who never officially retired from UFC, but spent a year in WWE with Dana White’s blessing. Raimondi reported they approved his Friday appearance.

Velasquez worked out at the WWE Performance Center in July 2018 and said he had a positive experience. He made his debut at AAA TripleMania in a six-man tag match with the aforementioned Cody and also worked at their Invading New York show. He was also scheduled for their now-postponed Los Angeles event.