Cain Velasquez’s post-WWE career has some serious potential

No, really. I’m not kidding. His career in WWE came and went like a fly in the wind, but Cain Velasquez as a wrestler has real potential.

Yesterday, we learned that Cain Velasquez’s WWE career was over. Much like several wrestlers/producers/writers/etc had been over the past month, Velasquez out of a job. In his case, as his WWE in-ring debut only just came last fall, his run with the company came and went like a cup of coffee.

Call me crazy, call me overly sentimental, but I actually feel for the guy. Not a lot of people are going to admit this, but Velasquez came into WWE with a heap of potential.

Yes, his debut and wrestling feud with his former MMA rival came at the expense of Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship reign. Yes, his one and only match against Brock Lesnar was two minutes of wasted time. But when I look at Velasquez’s wrestling career thus far, I see an underestimated passion for the business. If not passion, then a genuine desire to do right by the sport that wrestling purists would say the UFC heavyweight has “invaded.”

I even got that impression prior to him stepping inside of a WWE ring, because the first ring I ever saw Velasquez in was a AAA ring, wearing a mask and pulling out hurricanranas.

Cain Velasquez has enough star power and a marketable face to simply coast on that star power and do the bare minimum, yet he not only went out of his way to train hard enough that he could pull off a 240 pound hurricanrana, but as he explained to Cultaholic, he insisted on wearing a mask in AAA to pay homage to the lucha libre that he grew up watching that made him a fan to begin with.

Unfortunately, WWE wouldn’t let him wear the mask in their own ring, but the fact he went through such great lengths for his AAA debut says a lot to how seriously he wants to take the wrestling business now that he’s in it. Not only is it admirable, but that kind of dedication and hard work typically spells success for most wrestlers.

Because of his latest release and even due to a pre-existing injury that may have postponed what would have been his next WWE appearance (he was pushing for a Rumble appearance it seems), we weren’t able to see the full extent of that dedication inside of a WWE ring.

It’s disappointing that he may not ever find that success on a WWE stage anytime soon, but this does not mean his wrestling career is totally over. The door is open for him to a multitude of different promotions.

Certainly, he could always return to the AAA stage, or even surprise us with a small stage run on the independent scene. We should not rule out a AEW debut either, as Cody Rhodes expressed his interest in signing Velasquez prior to the MMA specialist going to WWE. Then, IMPACT Wrestling hasn’t been shy when it comes to bringing in MMA superstars from UFC and Bellator in the past.

The point is that Cain Velasquez’s WWE career may have come to a premature close, but this should not be the end of his foree into wrestling altogether. In fact, we should all be excited to see what he does as a wrestler next. He could surprise a lot of us.