When Patrick Clark, aka NXT's Velveteen Dream, released a video at the beginning of 2024 to provide an extensive apology to his fans, his former bookers, and to WWE as a whole for the actions that caused him to be fired in 2021, it earned a variety of different reactions from fans across the IWC.

To some, the video was viewed tone deaf, as Clark still didn't address, let alone apologize to, the people he hurt in the past, as he was sidelined and ultimately fired by WWE after allegations of impropriety, while others appreciated the effort, suggesting that some promotion, maybe not NXT but a smaller fed, could give him a chance to prove he's changed.

Will Clark get back into a professional wrestling ring any time soon? On a national scale, probably not any time soon, if ever, but that hasn't stopped the former North American Champion from reaching out to Booker T to get some advice and maybe an opportunity to showcase his work, be that as a member of NXT or Reality of Wrestling, both of which the former member of Harlem Heat has involvement with.

Discussing their talk on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T let it be known that they did have a conversation, and he even provided the former Velveteen Dream with some advice moving forward.

“I talked to Patrick Clark about three months ago. He reached out to me, he was trying to figure maybe a way to get back into the business. I told him to give me a call, and I don’t know, something happened, I don’t know what happened, I hadn’t talked to him. But I was wondering that myself. I wonder if this kid could get back in the business. I knew Patrick Clark before he was on Tough Enough. I knew him… as a kid,” Booker T said via Fightful.

“Then when he got on Tough Enough, I was like, ‘Man, this kid has got so much talent.' Then when he got to NXT and created that Velveteen Dream character and gimmick, I was like, ‘Man, this is money. This is gold. This thing could go a long time for years.' It was a throwback like Macho Man Savage, something like that. It was kind of like a throwback gimmick that he made work. But I don’t know, man. I wonder if there’s a way back in the business for him. But I tell you, it’s gonna be hard. He’s gonna have to put in a whole lot of work because one thing I said when I came home from prison, I said I didn’t expect people to trust me. I said I gotta earn people’s trust. People are gonna look at me like I’m a criminal, and that’s the way they should look at me. It’s gonna be up to me to prove myself. So if I could tell Patrick Clark anything, don’t quit. Get out there and just earn it.”

Have professional wrestlers come back after seemingly blowing their careers for one reason or another? Yes, Vince McMahon opted to retire due to a series of allegations in the summer of 2022, only to return a few months later to help handle WWE's sale to Endeavor, where he remains employed as the Executive Chairman. Still, this case is different because Dream doesn't own the company and wasn't exactly the top overall guy in the promotion when he was fired. Still, Booker knows a thing about forgiveness and doesn't believe that the door is completely closed either.

Booker T thinks Velveteen Dream will have to put in the work.

Discussing the matter further on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T noted that, while he does believe Velveteen Dream will be given some sort of a chance to start his road back to professional wrestling, it will be a harrowing journey to get back to where he was in 2020, let alone advance even further up the ladder.

“Something like that, you gotta earn it. A spot is not something that, ‘Well, everybody should get.’ I really feel like, in certain situations, especially in a situation like he’s in right now, he’s gonna have to earn his way back, and it’s gonna take a lot of hard work. It’s gonna take getting someone to trust you. I’m not even talking about all the way back to the wrestling business. I’m just talking about in general. Brother was definitely going through some troubled times, so finding his way back, it would really be a remarkable thing.”

Is there a world where Dream returns to professional wrestling? Yes, on a small scale, it's hard to imagine some local promoter won't put him on a show to sell a few extra tickets, but for him to eventually get back to WWE or land with a smaller promotion like TNA, public opinion would have to swing to a pretty incredible degree, which, at this moment, feels incredibly unlikely.