Patrick Clark Jr. (born August 19, 1995) is an American professional wrestler. He is performing on theindependent circuit under his real name and thering nameVelveteen Man. He is best known for his time inWWE, where he performed under the ring nameVelveteen Dream from 2015 to 2021.
Clark began his career in 2014, training and debuting inMCW Pro Wrestling. During his time there, he won theMCW Tag Team Championship withLio Rush. After competing in several other independent promotions, he participated in the 2015 WWE reality showTough Enough, a series focused on finding new wrestlers. He did not win the contest, but was signed to a developmental contract and was assigned toNXT, WWE'sfarm territory.
In May 2017, Clark debuted a newPrince-inspired gimmick on NXT called Velveteen Dream, becoming popular and winning theNXT North American Championship once. After a long period of inactivity sparked by WWE's investigation into allegations of Clark sexually harassing children, he was released from WWE in May 2021.[4]
Clark trained as a professional wrestler at the MCW Pro Wrestling training center under Patrick Brink.[3] He made his debut for the promotion after four months of training on October 3, 2014, under the ring nameRick Powers.[3] Clark went on to wrestle for MCW, winning the MCW Tag Team Championship with Lio Rush in October 2015.[6] He briefly used the ring nameSlugger Clark before settling on his real name in February 2016. In addition to working for MCW, Clark appeared with various American independent promotions throughout 2015 includingCombat Zone Wrestling andWorld Xtreme Wrestling.[1]
Clark was selected as a contestant for thesixth season of the WWE reality television programWWE Tough Enough, which began airing in June 2015. Despite being tapped as one of the favorites to win the competition, he was eliminated in the fifth episode due to a perceived lack of humility, placing ninth overall in the series.[5]
On October 17, 2015, it was reported that Clark had signed a developmental contract with WWE.[7] He made his in-ring debut for the company at aNXTlive event inLakeland, Florida on February 5, 2016, losing toRiddick Moss.[8] He made his television debut on the May 24th episode ofNXT, beatingRobert Anthony.[9] On the October 19 episode ofNXT, Clark confronted and challengedNXT ChampionShinsuke Nakamura but was attacked and beaten down by Nakamura.[10] Clark returned and had his first televised victory on the March 1, 2017 episode ofNXT, defeatingSean Maluta.[11]
On the May 3, 2017 episode ofNXT, Clark started appearing in weeklyvignettes, debuting a new Prince-inspired character called Velveteen Dream.[12] He made his debut as aheel on the May 24 episode ofNXT, defeating Robert Anthony.[13] On the September 20 episode ofNXT, Dream interruptedAleister Black, where he constantly stalked and harassed Black in order for him to acknowledge Dream and say his name.[14] This led to a match atNXT TakeOver: WarGames, where Dream lost, and Black would end up acknowledging and saying Dream's name.[15][16] On the December 6 episode ofNXT, Dream was supposed to faceKassius Ohno in a qualifying match for a number one contender's fatal-four-way match for theNXT Championship; however, an injury kept Dream out of competition, and he was replaced byJohnny Gargano, who defeated Ohno and later won the fatal-four way to become the number one contender.[17]
Dream chose to challenge for the NXT North American Championship, held by Johnny Gargano.[33] On the February 20 episode ofNXT, Dream defeated Gargano to win the title, marking his first championship win in WWE.[34] AtNXT TakeOver: New York, Dream defeatedMatt Riddle to retain the championship, handing Riddle his first loss in NXT.[35][36] In the following weeks, he went on to successfully defend the title against challengers includingBuddy Murphy,Tyler Breeze,Roderick Strong, andPete Dunne.[37][38] On the September 18 episode ofNXT, he lost the title to Roderick Strong after interference fromThe Undisputed Era, ending his reign at 231 days.[39] Dream's single reign was the longest at the time until it was broken byWes Lee's reign at 269 days in 2023.
After taking time off due to a back injury, he returned on the February 5, 2020 episode ofNXT to attack The Undisputed Era.[40] AtNXT TakeOver: In Your House, Dream challenged Adam Cole for the NXT Championship in a Backlot Brawl, but ended up unsuccessful, and due to a pre-match stipulation, Dream could no longer challenge for the title while Cole was still champion.[41] Following several months off after an injury related to a car accident,[42] Dream returned on the August 12 episode ofNXT, where he lost toCameron Grimes in atriple threat match also involvingKushida.[43] After the match, Dream attacked Kushida, thus turning heel in the process.[44] The following week onNXT, he defeatedFinn Bálor to qualify for a spot in a ladder match for the vacated NXT North American Championship atNXT TakeOver XXX.[45] At the event, Dream failed to win the title.[46] AtNXT TakeOver 31, Dream was defeated by Kushida.[47] On the December 23 episode ofNXT, Dream was defeated by Adam Cole in what would be his final WWE match and appearance.[48] On May 20, 2021, Dream was released from his WWE contract after five months of inactivity.[49]
On February 18, 2024, Clark made his return to wrestling after over 3 years for the promotion The Dynasty in a surprise appearance, now going by Velveteen Man, a tweaked version of his WWE ring name.[50] His successful return match at Dynasty: It Was All A Dream in which he defeated Alec Odin marked the final use of his WWE NXT ring name.[51][52]
On September 21, 2024 in a homecoming to his former training promotion, Patrick Clark returned to MCW at the September Slam live event defeating "The Afro Samurai" Tony Macko.[53] During early October 2024, he enjoyed successful singles victories during the two-night MCW Autumn Armageddon live events.[54][55]
After getting signed to a developmental contract, Clark initially debuted at NXThouse shows with the gimmick of aDonald Trump supporter, wearing shirts with Trump's image and the "Make America Great Again" slogan. In 2017, he adopted the persona of Velveteen Dream, a character inspired by the musicianPrince. The character was described by WWE as a "mysterious yet intoxicating presence, sporting a frilled, jewelled look that would have fit right in onstage during Prince'sPurple Rain Tour".[2] Clark described the character as "a sexually ambiguous,genderfluid, self-absorbeddiva".[56] As Velveteen Dream, his finishing move was thePurple Rainmaker, adiving elbow drop with the name inspired by one ofPrince's songs. His other signature move is a cartwheelDeath Valley driver dubbed as theDream Valley Driver.
In April 2020, Clark was accused of sending indecent images to underage boys onInstagram after aReddit user posted screenshots of what appeared to be a naked Clark on the SquaredCircle subreddit, though Clark denied the allegations.[61] Two months later, amidst theSpeaking Out movement, new allegations were made that Clark sent a sexually explicit photo to an underage girl and had "inappropriate communications" with underage boys he was allegedly grooming.[62][63] WWE reportedly investigated the incident but found no evidence of wrongdoing.[42]
In August 2022, Clark was arrested twice in Florida. On August 20, he was arrested on charges of first-degree battery and trespassing on property after a warning, to which he pleaded not guilty. He was arrested again six days later on charges of possessing drug paraphernalia.[64][65] The battery and trespassing charges were dropped the following month.[66]
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