WWE Rumors: Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Reportedly Meets With WWE
Ever since he made his debut in the squared circle earlier this year, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez has been attracting interest from several wrestling promotions. As The Inquisitr previously reported, Velasquez met with New Japan Pro Wrestling officials back in August, but his in-ring future could still be based elsewhere.
Citing Dave Meltzer during the latest episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio, Ringside News reports that the UFC veteran has generated interest from every major wrestling promotion, and has reportedly met with WWE officials about working out a deal.
According to Meltzer, though, issues with Velasquez’s UFC contract could prevent him working for WWE or any company based in the United States. As the deal stands at the moment, he’s permitted to work pro wrestling shows in Mexico for AAA. Whether or not he will be allowed to compete in WWE or All Elite Wrestling remains to be seen.
Meltzer believes that there must be a clause in his contract that prevents him from working shows in the United States. He was scheduled to appear at an upcoming AAA show in California next month, but UFC refused to let him participate in a run-in spot during the event and now his wrestling status for the show is unknown.
“That’s another issues, his contract with UFC allows him to do pro wrestling in Mexico I guess because when he signed his contract he wanted to do pro wrestling, but there must be some hold-up as far as the United States market goes because October 5th there’s a show in San Jose at Mount Pleasant High […] Cain was going to do a meet and greet and Cain was gonna do a run-in, and this might have changed, but the last I heard UFC said no.”
Meltzer also confirmed that AEW is interested in signing the former UFC Heavy Champion, but WWE appears to be more serious about making him an offer at the time of this writing. WWE has brought in several UFC-affiliated performers in recent years, and with Friday Night SmackDown set to adopt a sports-centric approach, an athlete of Velasquez’s pedigree will certainly fit that criteria.
AEW has already proven that it can match WWE in terms of financial incentive, however, and Velasquez has already teamed up with Cody Rhodes in AAA. Right now he’s in a position for which he has his pick of the bunch, assuming that UFC will allow him to compete elsewhere.
