Patrick Clark Jr. (born August 19, 1995) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently performing on the
independent circuit under the ring name Velveteen Man. He is best known for his time in
WWE, where he performed under the
ring nameVelveteen Dream from 2015 to 2021.
Clark began his career in 2014, training and debuting in
MCW Pro Wrestling. During his time there, he won the
MCW Tag Team Championship with
Lio Rush. After competing in several other independent promotions, he participated in the 2015 WWE reality show
Tough Enough, a series focused on finding new wrestlers. He did not win the contest, but was signed to a developmental contract and was assigned to
NXT, WWE's
farm territory.
In May 2017, Clark debuted a new
Prince-inspired gimmick on NXT called Velveteen Dream, becoming popular and winning the
NXT 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 name Rick 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 name Slugger 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 including
Combat Zone Wrestling and
World Xtreme Wrestling.[1]
WWE (2015–2021)
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.[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 a
NXTlive event in
Lakeland, Florida on February 5, 2016, losing to
Riddick Moss.[8] He made his television debut on the May 24th episode of NXT, beating
Robert Anthony.[9] On the October 19 episode of NXT, Clark confronted and challenged
NXT 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 of NXT, defeating
Sean Maluta.[11]
NXT North American Champion (2017–2019)
Dream in June 2018
On the May 3, 2017 episode of NXT, Clark started appearing in weekly
vignettes, debuting a new Prince-inspired character called Velveteen Dream.[12] He made his debut as a
heel on the May 24 episode of NXT, defeating Robert Anthony.[13] On the September 20 episode of NXT, Dream interrupted
Aleister 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 at
NXT TakeOver: WarGames, where Dream lost.[15][16] 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 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.[17]
Dream chose to challenge for the NXT North American Championship, held by Johnny Gargano.[33] On the February 20 episode of NXT, Dream defeated Gargano to win the title, marking his first championship win in WWE.[34] At
NXT TakeOver: New York, Dream defeated
Matt 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 including
Buddy Murphy,
Tyler Breeze,
Roderick Strong, and
Pete Dunne.[37][38] On the September 18 episode of NXT, he lost the title to Roderick Strong after interference from
The Undisputed Era, ending his reign at 231 days.[39]
Final storylines (2020–2021)
After taking time off due to a back injury, he returned on the February 5, 2020 episode of NXT to attack The Undisputed Era.[40] At
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 of NXT, where he lost to
Cameron Grimes in a
triple threat match also involving
Kushida.[43] After the match, Dream attacked Kushida, thus turning heel in the process.[44] The following week on NXT, he defeated
Finn Bálor to qualify for a spot in a ladder match for the vacated NXT North American Championship at
NXT TakeOver: XXX.[45] At the event, Dream failed to win the title.[46] At
NXT TakeOver 31, Dream was defeated by Kushida.[47] On the December 23 episode of NXT, 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]
Independent circuit (2024–present)
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]
Professional wrestling persona
After getting signed to a developmental contract, Clark initially debuted at NXT
house shows with the gimmick of a
Donald 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 musician Prince. 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's
Purple Rain Tour".[2] Clark described the character as "a sexually ambiguous,
genderfluid, self-absorbed
diva".[51] As Velveteen Dream, his finishing move was the Purple Rainmaker, a
diving elbow drop with a name also inspired by Prince.
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 SquaredCircle subreddit, though Clark denied the allegations.[56] Two months later, amidst the
Speaking 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.[57][58] 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.[59][60] The battery and trespassing charges were dropped the following month.[61]