Last week, WWE released Velveteen Dream from his contract. The WWE Universe assumed this was due to the accusations made against him last year during the #SpeakingOut movement, but it appears that might not be the case.
According to Bryan Alvarez today on Wrestling Observer Live, it appears that Dream's backstage attitude and demeanor might be the real reason for his release.
“The thing that I heard over and over again, beside the fact that he kept disappearing that there were car accidents and that’s never good, and I don’t really know what happened there, but it was a regular occurrence," Alvarez said. "The thing that I heard about Velveteen was that he rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, and it had nothing to do with accusations. What I heard over and over was that this guy, when he talks about his Velveteen Dream character and he talks about blending it with his real-life…I heard about the Velveteen Dream in the same way [as Shawn Michaels becoming the HBK character in real life].”
Earlier today, Velveteen Dream broke his silence regarding the accusations from last year and his WWE release. He pinpointed the incidents last summer as the reason for his release from the company.
While Alvarez didn't dismiss Velveteen Dream's statement, he believes that him rubbing the wrong people backstage was a catalyst that led to his release last Thursday.
"Going to shows, not talking to anybody, being aloof, really rubbing people the wrong way," Alvarez said. "The point of all of this is the impression I was given from talking to people is to forget the accusations [because] this guy was on his way to self-destructing and probably getting fired one way or the other very very quickly. What I believe is that was largely the reason that The Velveteen Dream ended up being cut from WWE. He’s saying that these accusations played into this. I don’t know how, I don’t any more details. That’s what he’s saying here but the stuff that he says about playing the character and living the character, I hear a lot about that and it was not positive."
What do you make of the Velveteen Dream situation? What do you think is the real reason for his release? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
Thanks to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription of this podcast.