Velveteen Dream Says “Bullsh*t Allegations” Cost Him His WWE Career

Following The Velveteen Dream (Patrick Clark) getting released from WWE NXT in May 2021, there were several reports regarding the decision to let him go ranging from allegations to behavioral issues to problems with fellow wrestlers. 

Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Dream’s firing had nothing to do with the accusations or anything that was made public about him. Instead, it was due to an incident that one of the top stars reported to management.

Dream previously stated in his statement that the accusations against him from April 2020 were the reason why he was fired. He backed up that belief while speaking on Dishing Drama with Dana Wilkey. Regarding the allegations, he called them “100% bullshit.” 

This is when he opened up on the firing and cited Josh Fuller as the person who started the #FireVelveteenDream: 

“I’d like to throw this in there as well, Josh Fuller was the one that when he decided to show up on social media with his bullshit allegations, he started the hashtag Fire Velveteen Dream. That’s what it cost me. An investigation was done by WWE, our COO Paul Levesque, better known as Triple H, went on record and said there was nothing that WWE found that would incriminate me or cause any concern for the company, a company who sells to children, and I’m being accused of soliciting sex for minors. Come on. WWE found nothing. They even tried to put me back in a program with one of their top stars and then after the Fire Velveteen Dream hashtag blew up, they were doing the digital audience and someone showed up, in their place instead of a person it hashtag Fire Velveteen Dream.”

Dream continued by recalling how WWE tried to give him time and distance himself from it, but the hashtag was continuing to trend every time that he would appear on TV. 

“WWE, in the middle of cancel culture, found itself at a loss. Money talks and they have shareholders. Even if they found me to be innocent, now, I’m affecting the bottom line, at least the bottom line they have with me, the money they can make with me, the way they can utilize me on TV. That’s what it cost me. It cost me my career. It cost me a chance to not only continue a dream, but almost have guaranteed support for my family. It was horrible. As soon as I got fired, the air cleared. Everyone deleted their messages, everyone deleted their vlogs. No one had nasty, rude hateful messages to send. It all stopped. It was as if the job got done and now we can all live our lives, except for the guy playing Velveteen Dream, me.”

He hasn’t worked a match since December 23, 2020. Last July, he did have his first post-WWE booking lined up until it got canceled. 

H/T to Fightful for the transcription

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