Patrick Clark Discusses His WWE NXT Release As Velveteen Dream & Arrests

WWE

At one point, it seemed as though The Velveteen Dream had the WWE Universe on a string. However, allegations of inappropriate communications with a minor surfaced in 2020, leading to his release in 2021. Dream, real name Patrick Clark, addressed his WWE departure in an interview with Chris Van Vliet. 

Clark disputed the belief that he was released because he was guilty of any wrongdoing, placing the blame toward Josh Fuller, an independent wrestler who, along with Jacob Schmidt, alleged that Clark had tried to groom him. 

"We weren't friends, we never were friends. I was helping him for a short amount of time ... Josh ended up getting two concussions and instead of listening to me after I asked him to stop wrestling, to go see a doctor, he decided to continue to wrestle and I had to cut him off," said Clark

Clark claimed he wanted to help Fuller, but Fuller was going to hurt himself. He said that he couldn't have the responsibility of that happening under his tutelage, especially considering his standing with WWE at the time. He also suggested that Fuller was "baiting him" in their interactions. 

WWE

Patrick Clark moved on to the timeline surrounding his WWE departure, noting that Paul "Triple H" Levesque had officially commented on the matter and "effectively cleared" Clark of any wrongdoing. He said after that Josh Fuller rallied to get him fired from WWE, pushing a "groomer, child predator narrative" on social media, and Clark latched on to Fuller's admission that "Patrick was never directly sexual to me" as evidence to that.

"Josh has a very simple story. I tried to help Josh but Josh got injured and did not want to listen to reason ... Josh didn't have any type of understanding for that at the time, and he lashed out. He lashed out here, and it says it in one of his last lines, he claims that I'm a groomer, a predator, and that I should not be succeeding in the wrestling business."

Since his WWE release, Clark has been arrested multiple times for charges including misdemeanor battery and drug possession. He also opened up on the arrests, putting his behavior down to the fallout of his 2020 allegations.

"I didn't know how to approach my family and loved ones and close friends. I didn't know how to cope. I didn't know how they would cope, and I didn't want to give it an opportunity to find out because I was afraid I lost so much love and respect. So I decided to stay in Orlando, Florida, for two and a half years longer than I should have."

WWE

Patrick Clark said that it was overstaying in Orlando alone that led to his erratic behavior, in turn leading to his first arrest in 2019.

"I went down to Miami to the Hocus Pocus Festival and got some [cocaine] from a guy and never used it. I kept it in my wallet. I got pulled over for a headlight infraction, when I'm reaching into my wallet to pull out my ID, a little baggie falls out."

Clark addressed the idea he had consumed cocaine in front of the police officer, feeling that he should have publicly squashed assumptions rather than let them build. But he said that he didn't know how to deal with the situation and felt silence was the answer.

"I was two weeks away from finishing up community service and I got arrested a second time. Because of this second arrest, that was a violation of the probation that was agreed upon on the first arrest, and because it was a violation of the probation, I was arrested at the end of the week of the second arrest."

Responding to claims he had smashed somebody's head through a car windshield, Clark affirmed that there is no evidence to suggest that happened because it didn't.