Now free and clear of his attempted murder conviction after receiving an early release from prison in February, former UFC fighter and AAA/WWE wrestler Cain Velasquez re-emerged in public last weekend, working the broadcast of the Ronda Rousey-Gina Carano fight on Netflix. While Velasquez isn’t likely to get into the octagon again, his appearance did lead to Dave Meltzer discussing his wrestling prospects on “Wrestling Observer Radio.” And Meltzer revealed that, if not for WWE acquiring AAA last year, Velasquez might’ve returned to lucha libre.
“I know this one factually; if WWE had not bought AAA, he would already be wrestling for AAA,” Meltzer said. “You know, they [WWE and Velasquez] didn’t leave on the best of terms. And I don’t think WWE really wants him, in the sense that what their goals are. Their goals aren’t ‘Let’s bring in a Mexican celebrity.'”
Because of that, Meltzer believes the odds of Velasquez returning to AAA in the immediate future aren’t very strong. He also seemed skeptical of AAA’s competitor, CMLL, bringing Velasquez in, largely because he doesn’t believe CMLL would offer up the money to make the appearances happen.
“They don’t pay enough to do that,” Meltzer said. “I mean, I think he might like it. I think he actually might love it, cause he actually loves lucha libre. But you know, again, he was a AAA guy. I don’t think CMLL would pay for it. But AAA would have. But no, the AAA people, Dorian Roldan, Konnan, those people that were involved, they loved him. They loved Cain Velasquez.
“But I think it’s even…I was pretty much told that actually, that if it was Dorian’s company, then they would’ve definitely brought Cain in for big shows, because that’s how much they think of him. But with this company, I don’t think its even in the…they wouldn’t even consider it, because their goals are completely different right now.”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Wrestling Observer Radio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
