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Cain Velasquez lost his “giant deal” with the WWE.
The WWE has been releasing several of their wrestlers as part of the budget cuts during this coronavirus pandemic. Despite being deemed as “essential” in Florida, the pro-wrestling organization is still continuing their attempts to cut costs, making Cain Velasquez’s lucrative contract an easy target.
The former UFC heavyweight champion has been released, ending his brief tenure with the WWE. News comes via the Wrestling Observer Radio (HT: Cageside Seats):
“It was a multi-year deal, and just like everybody else, they signed him to a giant deal, and now that they’re cutting back, one of the things in those deals is that they got the right to cut people. So people who thought that they signed multi-year contracts for high dollar figures, this is how it goes.”
Velasquez signed with the WWE just last October, and had a couple of appearances, including a kimura defeat against his former UFC opponent in Brock Lesnar. He signed a lucrative multi-year deal with the WWE, and subsequently announced his retirement from mixed martial arts.
Now that he has been released by the WWE, it will be interesting to see what career path the 37-year-old takes. He last fought in February 2019, a TKO loss to top contender Francis Ngannou. Prior to that, he was on the sidelines for years due to injuries, with his last win dating back to 2016.