Velveteen Dream facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Velveteen Dream |
|
|---|---|
Dream in 2018
|
|
| Birth name | Patrick Clark Jr. |
| Born | August 19, 1995 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Patrick Clark Velveteen Man Rick Powers Slugger Clark Velveteen Dream |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) |
| Billed weight | 227 lb (103 kg) |
| Billed from | Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. |
| Trained by | MCW Pro Wrestling WWE Performance Center |
| Debut | October 3, 2014 |
Patrick Clark Jr. (born August 19, 1995) is an American professional wrestler. He is known for his exciting performances in the wrestling world. He has wrestled on the independent circuit using his real name and the ring name Velveteen Man. He was also well-known for his time in WWE, where he wrestled as Velveteen Dream from 2015 to 2021.
Patrick Clark started his wrestling journey in 2014. He trained and made his first appearance at MCW Pro Wrestling. While there, he even won the MCW Tag Team Championship with his partner, Lio Rush. After wrestling for a few other independent groups, he joined the 2015 WWE reality show Tough Enough. This show looked for new wrestling stars. Even though he didn't win, WWE signed him to a special contract. He then joined NXT, which is like a training ground for future WWE superstars.
In May 2017, Clark introduced a new character on NXT called Velveteen Dream. This character was inspired by the famous musician Prince. The Velveteen Dream quickly became very popular. He even won the NXT North American Championship once. After a period of not wrestling, he left WWE in May 2021.
Contents
Early Life
Patrick Clark Jr. was born on August 19, 1995, in Washington, D.C..
Professional Wrestling Career
Starting Out (2014–2015)
Patrick Clark trained to become a professional wrestler at the MCW Pro Wrestling training center. His coach was Patrick Brink. After only four months of training, he made his wrestling debut on October 3, 2014. He used the ring name Rick Powers for his first matches.
Clark continued to wrestle for MCW. In October 2015, he won the MCW Tag Team Championship with his tag team partner, Lio Rush. For a short time, he used the name Slugger Clark. Then, in February 2016, he started wrestling under his real name. Besides MCW, Clark also wrestled for other independent wrestling groups in 2015. These included Combat Zone Wrestling and World Xtreme Wrestling.
Time in WWE (2015–2021)
Tough Enough and Training (2015–2017)
Clark was chosen to be a contestant on the sixth season of WWE Tough Enough. This reality TV show started airing in June 2015. Many people thought he would win the competition. However, he was eliminated in the fifth episode. He finished ninth overall in the series.
On October 17, 2015, news came out that Clark had signed a special contract with WWE. He made his first wrestling appearance for the company at an NXT live event. This event was in Lakeland, Florida, on February 5, 2016. He lost his first match to Riddick Moss. Clark then made his television debut on the May 24 episode of NXT. He won his match against Robert Anthony.
On the October 19 episode of NXT, Clark faced the NXT Champion, Shinsuke Nakamura. Clark challenged Nakamura, but Nakamura attacked him. Clark returned to TV and got his first televised victory on March 1, 2017. He defeated Sean Maluta on that episode of NXT.
Becoming NXT North American Champion (2017–2019)
On May 3, 2017, NXT began showing short videos about Clark. These videos introduced his new character, Velveteen Dream. This character was inspired by the famous musician Prince. He made his debut as a villain on the May 24 episode of NXT, defeating Robert Anthony. On September 20, NXT showed Dream interrupting Aleister Black. Dream kept following and bothering Black, wanting Black to say his name. This led to a match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames. Dream lost this match.
On December 6, NXT announced that Dream was supposed to face Kassius Ohno. This match was to qualify for a special four-way match for the NXT Championship. However, Dream was injured and could not compete. Johnny Gargano took his place.
On January 10, 2018, Dream interrupted Gargano on NXT. He made fun of Gargano for taking too long to beat Ohno. Dream claimed he could have won in "30 seconds tops." On January 24, Ohno confronted Dream backstage and pushed him. This started a rivalry between them. At NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia, Dream defeated Ohno.
During the rest of 2018, Dream wrestled in several big TakeOver events. At NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, he competed in a ladder match for the very first NXT North American Championship. Adam Cole won that match. At NXT TakeOver: Chicago II, Ricochet defeated Dream. At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV, Dream defeated EC3.
On September 26, NXT showed Dream starting a rivalry with NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa. Dream accused Ciampa of attacking Aleister Black. This made Dream become a hero to the fans. At NXT TakeOver: WarGames on November 17, he tried to win the NXT Championship from Ciampa but was unsuccessful.
On February 2, 2019, at Royal Rumble Axxess, Dream entered the 2019 Worlds Collide tournament. He defeated Tony Nese in the first round. Then he beat Humberto Carrillo in the quarterfinals and Jordan Devlin in the semifinals. In the final, he defeated Tyler Bate. This win earned him a future championship match of his choice on either the NXT or NXT UK brands.
Dream chose to challenge Johnny Gargano for the NXT North American Championship. On the February 20 episode of NXT, Dream defeated Gargano to win the title. This was his first championship win in WWE. At NXT TakeOver: New York, Dream defeated Matt Riddle to keep his championship. This was Riddle's first loss in NXT. In the weeks that followed, he successfully defended his title against many challengers. These included Buddy Murphy, Tyler Breeze, Roderick Strong, and Pete Dunne.
On the September 18 episode of NXT, he lost the title to Roderick Strong. This happened after The Undisputed Era interfered in the match. His championship reign lasted 231 days. At that time, Dream's reign was the longest. However, Wes Lee later broke this record in 2023 with a 269-day reign.
Final Storylines (2020–2021)
After taking time off for a back injury, Dream returned on February 5, 2020. On that episode of NXT, he attacked The Undisputed Era. At NXT TakeOver: In Your House, Dream challenged Adam Cole for the NXT Championship. This was a special "Backlot Brawl" match. Dream was unsuccessful. Because of a rule made before the match, Dream could no longer challenge for the title while Cole was still champion.
After several months off due to an injury from a car accident, Dream returned on August 12, 2020. On that NXT episode, he lost to Cameron Grimes in a three-way match that also included Kushida. After the match, Dream attacked Kushida, becoming a villain again. The next week on NXT, he defeated Finn Bálor. This win qualified him for a ladder match for the vacant NXT North American Championship at NXT TakeOver XXX. At the event, Dream failed to win the title. At NXT TakeOver 31, Kushida defeated Dream. On the December 23 episode of NXT, Adam Cole defeated Dream. This was his final WWE match and appearance. On May 20, 2021, Dream was released from his WWE contract after five months of not wrestling.
Independent Circuit (2024–Present)
On February 18, 2024, Patrick Clark made his return to wrestling after more than three years. He made a surprise appearance for a wrestling group called The Dynasty. He now uses the name Velveteen Man, which is a slightly changed version of his WWE ring name. His successful return match was at Dynasty: It Was All A Dream, where he defeated Alec Odin. This match was the last time he used his WWE NXT ring name.
On September 21, 2024, Patrick Clark returned to MCW, his former training promotion. He wrestled at their September Slam live event and defeated "The Afro Samurai" Tony Macko. In early October 2024, he had more successful single matches during the two-night MCW Autumn Armageddon live events.
Wrestling Persona
When Patrick Clark first joined NXT, he used a character that supported Donald Trump. He wore shirts with Trump's picture and the "Make America Great Again" slogan. In 2017, he changed his character to Velveteen Dream. This character was inspired by the musician Prince. WWE described the character as a "mysterious yet exciting presence." He wore fancy, jeweled outfits that looked like something Prince would wear on his Purple Rain Tour.
Clark described the Velveteen Dream character as a very confident and self-centered performer. As Velveteen Dream, his special finishing move was called the Purple Rainmaker. This was a diving elbow drop, named after one of Prince's songs. His other signature move was a cartwheel Death Valley driver, which he called the Dream Valley Driver.
Other Appearances
As Velveteen Dream, Patrick Clark was a playable character in several video games. These include WWE Mayhem, WWE Universe, WWE Champions, WWE SuperCard, WWE 2K19, and WWE 2K20.
Achievements and Awards
- Maryland Championship Wrestling
- MCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Lio Rush
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2018)
- Ranked No. 26 of the top 500 single wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2019
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Best Gimmick (2018)
- WWE
- NXT North American Championship (1 time)
- NXT Year-End Award for Rivalry of the Year (2017) – vs Aleister Black
- Worlds Collide (2019)
See also
In Spanish: Velveteen Dream para niños
