Report: Cain Velasquez Released By WWE

Back in October, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez signed with WWE and seemed to be on course for a long stint in the company. He debuted by attacking Brock Lesnar on the October 4 episode of Friday Night SmackDown and went on to face The Beast Incarnate for the WWE Championship at Crown Jewel.

However, Velasquez was suffering from a knee injury at the time, so the match was kept short and he was forced to tap out to the Kimura lock in 123 seconds. 

After the match, WWE did very little with Cardio Cain. He teamed with Humberto Carrillo at a house show in Mexico City, Mexico, and was cleared to return to in-ring action back in February, but the company had no plans to use Velasquez.

Now, Dave Meltzer has reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that Velasquez has been released by WWE. This comes after the company announced they would be making cutbacks because of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequently released 33 Superstars. 

Meltzer said: "Well released, yeah. They haven't used him since Saudi Arabia. He was on a giant contract so, yeah, that's pretty much it. It was a multi-year deal and it was like everybody else they signed to a giant deal, and then now that they are cutting back, one of the things in those deals is they have the right to cut people. So, people who thought that they signed multi-year contracts for high dollar figures, this is how it goes."