Former WWE Champ Discusses Cain Velasquez’ Pro-Wrestling Debut

Cain Velasquez is now a professional wrestler. The former UFC heavyweight champion signed with the AAA lucha libre promotion last month. He will be part of the promotion’s annual Triplemania event this August.

Recently, professional wrestling legend and former WWE star Alberto Del Rio spoke to MMA Junkie to give his thoughts on Velasquez in professional wrestling. Del Rio admitted that Velasquez certainly has the athletic pedigree to succeed inside of the ring:

“Velasquez has all the athletic credentials,” Del Rio said. “Wrestling is more difficult than people know, and it’s hard physically, but Cain has the athletic pedigree to do the job in the ring.”

A Different Style

Del Rio then discussed what it takes to be a star in professional wrestling. In mixed martial arts (MMA), your performance inside of the cage might be enough to make people want to tune in to see you fight. However, in the world of wrestling, athletes must have charisma to really thrive in the industry:

“In mixed martial arts, the promoters like to sell fights with big personalities, Del Rio said. “But you can become a star simply by winning all your fights and being impressive in the cage and becoming a champion and make the fans want to see your fights that way. …

“But in wrestling, you have to have a charisma that connects with the audience in a different way. The promoter can have you go out and lose every single night, but if the audience believes in your character and your personality, you can still become a star anyway.”

Del Rio isn’t sure how Velasquez is going to connect with the professional wrestling audience, but one thing is for sure, he has a great respect for the business as he heads into the venture, which should play into his favor:

“He respects wrestling,” Del Rio said. “He has the right attitude, he is sincere in wanting to learn. Whether that will translate, we don’t know, but he’s doing and saying all the right things.”