Patrick Clark Jr. (born August 19, 1995) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he works in their developmental territory NXT under the ring name Velveteen Dream.
Video Velveteen Dream
Professional wrestling career
Early career (2014-2015)
Clark trained to become a professional wrestler at the Maryland Championship Wrestling training center, and made his debut for the promotion after four months of training on October 3, 2014. He continued to wrestle for MCW, winning the MCW Tag Team Championship with Lio Rush in October 2015. In addition to working for MCW, Clark made numerous appearances for various American independent promotions during 2015 including World Xtreme Wrestling, Combat Zone Wrestling and Marvelous Puroresu USA, and Lancaster Championship Wrestling. He mentioned how much he liked the Slugger Clark name in CZW.
WWE
Tough Enough (2015)
Clark was chosen to be a contestant in the sixth season of the WWE competition 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 5th episode due to a perceived lack of humility, placing 9th overall in the series.
NXT (2015-present)
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, 2016 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.
On the May 24 episode of NXT, Clark debuted a new Prince-inspired character called "Velveteen Dream" with no mention being made about his past accomplishments under his real name. In September, Dream then began a feud with Aleister Black, where he constantly stalked and harassed Black in order for him to say his name. This led to a match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames, where Dream lost. After the match, Black sat next to a dazed Velveteen Dream, before ultimately saying his name. Whilst Velveteen Dream went on to lose the match, many sports media outlets said that Dream's performance was the "best of his professional wrestling career", with Nigel McGuinness and Mauro Ranallo's match commentary as well as the crowd's reaction towards him during and after the match affirming this. The rivalry between Dream and Black was subsequently named as NXT's rivalry of the year for 2017 at the NXT Year-End Awards.
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 NXT TakeOver: WarGames 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 episode of NXT, Dream would interrupt 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 Ohno, who pushed him into a wall. Triple H confirmed that a match between Ohno and Dream would be signed for NXT Takeover: Philadelphia. At NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia, Dream defeated Ohno via pinfall. During the match after the opening bell, the crowd began counting in unison to thirty, and Dream did indeed manage to punch Ohno hard enough for him to fall to the ground dazed before the count of 30. Dream began calling to the referee to wave the match off, but Ohno soon awoke. Dream wore boxing trunks to the ring for this match and momentarily started shadowboxing as the match started; a mockery of Ohno's one-punch knockout in-ring style.
At NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, Dream competed in the ladder match for the inaugural NXT North American Championship, which was won by Adam Cole. The match was later awarded 5 stars by Dave Meltzer, making Dream the only Tough Enough contestant to ever have worked a 5 Star match, as rated by Meltzer.
In May 2018, long-time WWE Superstar turned actor and 16-time world champion John Cena gave a beaming endorsement for Dream. Cena used an analogy comparing himself to an old Jedi Master looking upon the rookie and declaring he could be "The One".
Maps Velveteen Dream
Professional wrestling highlights
- Finishing moves
- As Velveteen Dream
- Purple Rainmaker (Diving elbow drop) 2017-present
- As Patrick Clark
- Famouser (Inverted leg drop bulldog)
- As Velveteen Dream
- Signature moves
- Swinging reverse STO transitioned into a DDT
- Cartwheeling Death Valley driver
- Spinebuster
- Superkick
- Nicknames
- "The Patrick Clark Experience"
- "The Velveteen Dream Experience"
- "The Vainglorious One"
- Entrance themes
- "Player Hater" by Carlton Banksy (NXT; October 19, 2016 - March 1, 2017)
- "Velveteen" by CFO$ (NXT; March 1, 2017 - present)
Championships and accomplishments
- Maryland Championship Wrestling
- MCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Lio Rush
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Ranked No. 324 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2017
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- 5 Star Match (2018) vs. Adam Cole, Killian Dain, EC3, Ricochet and Lars Sullivan on April 7
- WWE NXT
- NXT Year-End Award (1 time)
- Rivalry of the Year (2017) - vs Aleister Black
- NXT Year-End Award (1 time)
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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