WWE managed to rope in Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson for its SmackDown premiere on Fox. SmackDown aired its first episode on Fox this Friday and the historic show was headlined by a WWE Championship match between Kofi Kingston and Brock Lesnar. The Rock kicked off the show and immediately electrified (pun intented) the audience as he laid a beating on Baron Corbin along with Raw Women’s champion Becky Lynch. However, there was a big surprise at the end of the show planned by Vince McMahon.
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Former UFC heavyweight champion and one of the greatest MMA athletes of all time, Cain Velasquez made his debut in the WWE along with Rey Mysterio.
Lesnar defeated Kofi Kingston in just 6 seconds to win the WWE Championship. However his celebrations were cut short when Mysterio arrived with Velasquez at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It should be noted that Lesnar had attacked Mysterio and his son Dominick at Monday Night Raw this week.
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Lesnar tried to attack Velasquez but the MMA superstar floored him with a double legged takedown as the ‘Beast Incarnate’ rushed outside of the ring.
WHAT?!?!@cainmma is HERE and he is getting a piece of the NEW #WWEChampion @BrockLesnar!!!! #SmackDown @HeymanHustle @reymysterio pic.twitter.com/wQ7YlW3wdw
— WWE (@WWE) October 5, 2019
Even though Velasquez is a MMA star, the fans in the arena were confused by his presence in the main event. Velasquez is not a well-known name in the professional wrestling circuit and only recently started his career in the wrestling world in Mexico.
There is some big history between Lesnar and Velasquez. The 37-year-old Mexican had knocked out Lesnar to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship in 2010. Interestingly, Velasquez had also headlined Fox’s first show with the UFC in 2011. Velasquez is widely considered as one of the greatest heavyweight fighter in the history of UFC. Constant injuries have hampered his success in the Octagon throughout his career.
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Velasquez made his debut in pro wrestling in August with Mexican promotion Lucha Libre AAA. Velasquez impressed everyone with his display at AAA’s Triplemania show in front of 18,000 at Mexico City Arena.
It has also been reported that Velasquez is yet to sign a contract with the WWE as negotiations are still going on. It would be interesting to see where this feud is headed but all signs point to a WWE championship match between Lesnar and Velasquez at Crown Jewel later this month.
