Notes on Velveteen Dream’s WWE departure

Former WWE Superstar The Velveteen Dream reportedly had support from higher-ups in the company, which led to concern among his co-workers.

As noted, WWE released Dream on Thursday afternoon. He had not appeared on NXT TV since losing to Adam Cole in December, and after being away for some time, he was backstage at the May 10 RAW show, but never scheduled to appear.

In an update, Bryan Alvarez reported today on Wrestling Observer Live that Dream had friends in WWE who were “very, very” high up in the company. This reportedly led to some people feeling uncomfortable with going to management about his behavior because he was close with management. It was indicated that Dream’s release was not due to previous allegations against him, but more because of the behavioral issues.

There had been talk about behavioral issues with Dream from his time in NXT, and from when he went to other places, such as EVOLVE. Dream represented the company at EVOLVE 113 in September 2018, and then at EVOLVE 123 and EVOLVE 124 in March 2019.

Dream was just training at the WWE Performance Center last week, according to the Wrestling Observer.

There’s no word on what Dream might be planning for the future, but he is under a standard 30-day non-compete clause with his NXT contract. He will be free to sign with other companies after Saturday, June 19.

Stay tuned for more.