Velveteen Dream


Patrick Clark Jr. is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, performing on the NXT brand under the ring name Velveteen Dream.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2014–2015)

Clark trained as a professional wrestler at the Maryland Championship Wrestling training center under Patrick Brink. He made his debut for the promotion after four months of training on October 3, 2014 under the ring name "Rick Powers". Clark went on to wrestle for MCW, winning the MCW Tag Team Championship with Lio Rush in October 2015. He briefly used the ring name "Slugger Clark" before settling on "Patrick Clark" in February 2016. In addition to working for MCW, Clark appeared with various American independent promotions throughout 2015 including Combat Zone Wrestling and World Xtreme Wrestling.

WWE (2015 – present)

''Tough Enough'' and training (2015–2017)

Clark was selected as a contestant for the sixth season of the WWE reality television program WWE 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.
On October 17, 2015, it was reported that Clark had signed a developmental contract with WWE. He made his in-ring debut for the company at a NXT live event in Lakeland, Florida on February 5, 2016, losing to Riddick Moss. He made his television debut on the July 20 episode of NXT, losing to Austin Aries. On the October 19 episode of NXT, Clark confronted and challenged NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura but was attacked and beaten down by Nakamura. Clark returned and had his first televised victory on the March 1, 2017 episode of NXT, defeating Sean Maluta.

NXT (2017–present)

On the May 24, 2017 episode of NXT, Clark debuted a new Prince-inspired character called "Velveteen Dream". In September, Dream began a feud with Aleister Black, where he constantly stalked and harassed Black in order for him to acknowledge Dream and say his name. This led to a match at, where Dream lost. After the match, Black sat next to a dazed Velveteen Dream, before ultimately saying his name. On the December 6 episode of NXT, Dream was supposed to face Kassius Ohno in a qualifying match for a number one contender's fatal-four way match for the NXT Championship; however, an injury suffered at kept Dream out of competition, and he was replaced by Johnny Gargano, who defeated Ohno and later won the fatal-four way to become the number one contender. On the January 10, 2018 episode of NXT, Dream interrupted Gargano's interview to mock him for taking 20 minutes to defeat Ohno, claiming that he could've beaten him in "30 seconds tops." On the January 24 episode of NXT, Dream challenged Gargano for his title opportunity, but lost the match. Following the match, Dream was confronted backstage by Kassius Ohno, who pushed him into a wall. Triple H confirmed that a match between Dream and Ohno would be signed for, where Dream defeated Ohno.
During the rest of 2018, Dream participated in several TakeOver events. At, Dream competed in the ladder match for the inaugural NXT North American Championship at was defeated by Ricochet, at he defeated EC3 and at was defeated by the NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa.
On January 27, 2019 at Royal Rumble Axxess, Dream defeated Tyler Bate in the finals of the Worlds Collide tournament to earn a future singles championship match of his choice on the NXT or NXT UK brands. Dream chose to challenge for the NXT North American Championship held by the new champion, Johnny Gargano. WWE decided to tape two endings, one with Gargano retaining the title and the other with Dream winning. When the episode aired on February 20, 2019, Dream officially won the title. At, Dream defeated Matt Riddle to retain the championship, handing Riddle his first loss in NXT. He went on to successfully defend the title against challengers including Buddy Murphy, Tyler Breeze, Roderick Strong, and Pete Dunne. On the September 18 episode of NXT, he lost the title to Strong after interference from The Undisputed Era, ending his reign at 231 days, the longest reign in the title's history. After taking time off due to a back injury, he returned on the February 5, 2020 episode of NXT to attack The Undisputed Era. At, Dream challenged Adam Cole for his NXT Championship in a Backlot Brawl but ended up unsuccessful. Due to a pre-match stipulation, Dream can no longer challenge for the title while Cole is still champion.

Professional wrestling persona

After getting signed to a developmental contract, he initially debuted on NXT house shows with the gimmick of a Donald Trump supporter, wearing shirts with Donald Trump's image and the "Make America Great Again" slogan. In 2017, Clark adopted the persona of "Velveteen Dream", a character inspired by the musician Prince. The Velveteen Dream 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's Purple Rain Tour". As Velveteen Dream, Clark's finishing move is the "Purple Rainmaker", a diving elbow drop named after a Prince album/single.

Other media

Velveteen Dream appeared as a playable character in the video games WWE 2K19 and WWE 2K20.

Sexual harassment allegations

In April 2020, Clark was accused of sending indecent images to underage boys on Instagram, after a Reddit user posted screenshots of what appeared to be a naked Clark on the subreddit r/SquaredCircle, though Clark has denied these allegations.
In June 2020, Clark again made national headlines after new allegations were made that he sent a sexually explicit photo to an underage girl as well as having inappropriate communications with underage boys as well as grooming them amidst the Speaking Out movement. Clark has again issued a statement denying these allegations.

Championships and accomplishments