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WWE NXT star Velveteen Dream was released today by the company, according to multiple sources. The release happened within the last hour we are told.
Dream, real name Patrick Clark, 25, was signed to the company after being eliminated fromthe 2015 Tough Enough season where he obviously showed the most passion for pro wrestling out of any of the contestants but was still voted off the show. After a big push from WWE Hall of Famer Lita at the time, WWE hired Clark for the developmental system, sending him to WWE NXT later that year.
Clark eventually debuted as The Velveteen Dream in 2017, a character obviously inspired in part by the late, great musician Prince and went to great lengths to remain in character as much as possible when in the public eye. He quickly rose to prominence in NXT with a tremendous series of performances, looking every bit like a future Wrestlemania main event player. His work in the ring, nor his flair for performing, was never in question.
That momentum sputtered, stalled and died after online allegations of Clark allegedly sending indecent images to underage boys through social media, a story that lit up after a Reddit user began posting screenshots and audio.
Clark responded at the time, "Be assured I did not communicate inappropriately with anyone. A private photo of mine was shared without my consent or knowledge and I am working with a third party to look into this matter."
In speaking about the situation in August 2020 to CBS Sports, WWE's Paul Levesque commented, "You know, in this day today, accusations are made and you take them all very seriously. You look into them the best you can, and you find out what is there and what isn’t. In this situation, [Clark] was also involved in a car accident. That’s what took him off TV. In the moment, all this other stuff happens and you look into it and you find that there is a situation that people bring to everyone’s attention, you look into it and find that it is what it is and there’s nothing there. Everything that we have done, we are comfortable with him continuing to do what he does and everything else. But he had a car accident. It stemmed down to people thought we removed him from TV for different reasons. We didn’t. He was in a car accident. Once he was medically cleared to be able to return to the ring from his car accident, we continued forward the way we did. We looked into what was there and we didn’t find anything.”
While WWE looked into the allegations but found no cause for action, the situation never went away. Levesque was asked about the situation numerous times during NXT media calls to the point he made it clear he would no longer address the issue. At the same time, anti-Velveteen Dream trends exploded on social media, especially Twitter, whenever Clark did appear on television.
Clark last wrestled for WWE NXT in December 2020 and had not been seen at the WWE Performance Center for some time. He was present several weeks back at a Raw taping, but at the time, PWInsider.com was told there were no plans to use him on the main roster.
WWE has not publicly announced Clark's release. PWInsider.com confirmed his departure with a number of sources this afternoon, however.
This is a developing story and this article may be updated as needed. Last update 5:27 PM EST.
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