The Rise and Downfall of Velveteen Dream's WWE Career

Sportskeeda Wrestling

Dive deep into the captivating journey of one of WWE's most enigmatic and controversial superstars, Velveteen Dream. Join us as we explore the highs and lows of his career, from the meteoric rise that made him a fan favorite to the unexpected fall that left the wrestling world in shock.   Was Velveteen Dream unfairly targeted, or did his actions justify the consequences? Join the conversation in the comments section as we navigate the complexities surrounding this polarizing figure.  Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe to our channel for more in-depth explorations of the fascinating stories within the world of sports entertainment. Hit the notification bell to stay updated on our latest content!   You can also visit our site: https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe

Transcript

00:00 Velveteen Dream - He had it all.

00:03 He was on the right side of his 20s, a young WWE prospect who was believed to be making

00:09 it big in the future and was even endorsed by the GOAT, the greatest of all time, John

00:15 Cena.

00:16 Today, he seems like someone who's been blacklisted from any major wrestling promotion.

00:21 How did he go from being labeled as "the next big thing" to falling off as hard as he did?

00:28 What's the sport's key to wrestling?

00:30 Let us know what you think and try to keep it civil in the comments.

00:33 His wrestling journey began in 2014 when he was hardly 19 years old.

00:39 Patrick Clark came in with a clear look and a desire to make it big.

00:44 He became one of the competitors on the last season of Tough Enough.

00:48 To give you a rundown, Tough Enough was WWE's answer to a competition reality TV show and

00:53 they initially started on MTV.

00:55 They created a program where contestants would compete to earn a WWE contract.

01:00 It's been successful and some big names have come out of it.

01:03 Let's just say that Tough Enough hasn't exactly been the best path to complete WWE stardom.

01:09 And that was proven when Velveteen Dream, then known by his real name Patrick Clark,

01:14 was eliminated early into the competition after just 5 episodes.

01:19 The same season of Tough Enough saw several future WWE superstars in Chelsea Green, Sonya

01:25 Deville and Mandy Rhodes.

01:27 The winners of the show eventually, Josh and Sarah Lee, didn't have much success in WWE.

01:33 But for a young Patrick Clark, he won over the audience enough and his charisma shined

01:38 through and his passion for pro wrestling was undeniable.

01:43 It didn't go unnoticed and WWE signed him up to a developmental deal that same year.

01:48 He began to dip his feet into the water of being in front of live fans, debuting a pro

01:53 Donald Trump character who wasn't huge for NXT live events that weren't televised, while

01:59 also making his initial appearances on television under his real name.

02:04 The fact that he was put in a segment against then NXT champion Shinsuke Nakamura was a

02:09 testament to what important people backstage thought of him and his potential future.

02:15 Because he wasn't going to get a segment with NXT's hottest star at the time otherwise,

02:19 even if the involvement was just him getting beat up.

02:23 It was during that time that we first got to see early parts of what would become THE

02:29 Velveteen Dream character.

02:30 A few months into 2017, he finally debuted THE Velveteen Dream character and it resembled

02:37 the late music icon Prince.

02:40 It may have been the late 2010s, but WWE fans were ready to party like it's 1999 and embrace

02:46 the idea of a pro wrestling character inspired by the Purple Rain.

02:52 The character was an instant hit unlike the 90s where superstars like Goldust were labeled

02:58 androgynous.

02:59 The Velveteen Dream came at a perfect time when audiences were receptive to characters

03:05 that played to the notion of a character who may be representing some elements of society

03:11 that weren't prominent in professional wrestling.

03:13 It has always been said that it's better to have a great character rather than just being

03:17 a good wrestler, but despite the fact that he only had 3 years of experience in the ring,

03:23 he already proved to be a perfect combination of both.

03:26 He even had a catchy theme song to stand out and he was a bit of a throwback act, making

03:31 audiences cheer for him even when he was the villain in the story.

03:35 But it was the "Say My Name" feud with the mysterious and occult leader Aleister Black

03:42 that really put him on the map.

03:44 Aleister Black was on an undefeated streak in NXT at the time and Dream wanted him to

03:49 say his name and acknowledge him.

03:53 Yeah, this was before Roman Reigns.

03:55 It may sound a bit weird of a reason to have a feud, but the chemistry between these two

04:00 polar opposite characters made it work.

04:04 Someone who was outlandish and someone who was stone cold serious.

04:08 And the outlandish one here, Dream, was simply demanding to be respected by someone who clearly

04:14 didn't respect him.

04:15 Even after defeating him, Aleister Black said the words "Enjoy infamy, Velveteen Dream"

04:26 and he got a huge pop.

04:27 Man, NXT back then was awesome.

04:30 The character development was through the roof and it stood out as something completely

04:34 different from Raw and Smackdown.

04:36 And these two characters and the story were a big part of that.

04:39 Those critical words, that endorsement from Aleister Black, led to Velveteen Dream being

04:44 a made man on the NXT roster at the young age of just 22.

04:51 After defeating NXT's version of a journeyman in Cassius Ohno, he participated in a ladder

04:57 match, a very special one that earned 5 stars.

05:01 Although Adam Cole "Bay Bay" won it, Dream was a big part of this incredible match.

05:07 After defeating EC3 at the Brooklyn Takeover event later that year, he challenged the most

05:14 hated man in wrestling at the time, Tommaso Ciampa, and turned babyface in the process

05:19 for the first time in his career.

05:21 For those of you who are unfamiliar with Ciampa's NXT run, tune up, go watch these on Peacock

05:27 WWE Network.

05:29 There was a time when he was so hated that he didn't even need entrance music.

05:34 He just walked out and got booed.

05:36 It was incredible.

05:37 Dream didn't win the title from Ciampa, but his face turn was a big test to prove that

05:43 he had versatility and could play both sides of the coin.

05:47 One of the most important things for a wrestler to have a lengthy and dynamic career in televised

05:52 pro wrestling.

05:53 It was around this time that John Cena appeared at the Megacon event in Orlando and was asked

05:59 about who he would choose to face between Adam Cole, Ricochet, and Velveteen Dream.

06:05 His answer would surprise quite a few people.

06:08 My answer is going to upset some people, but I'd rather face Velveteen Dream.

06:13 You know in the Star Wars movie, the old Jedi can look at the young rookie, young Jedi and

06:20 be like "I think that's the one.

06:23 I get that weird, odd, medical feeling about Velveteen Dream."

06:28 He went on to say there's something special over there.

06:31 If that wasn't a big enough endorsement, then you're going to have to tell us what would

06:36 be.

06:37 In 2019, WWE put out a video titled "5 Dream Matches for John Cena at WrestleMania" and

06:44 included the names of Drew McIntyre, Rey Mysterio, and Velveteen Dream.

06:48 The very same month, Dream went on to win the Worlds Collide tournament and chose to

06:55 challenge for the NXT North American Championship as his prize.

06:59 He went on to win the title from Johnny Wrestling himself, Johnny Gargano, and held it for a

07:04 respectable 231 days.

07:07 His title streak would end Matt Riddle's undefeated streak, going through a flurry

07:12 of challenges including Pete Dunne, Tyler Breeze, Buddy Murphy, and Roderick Strong.

07:17 Even when he eventually lost the NXT North American Championship to Roderick Strong,

07:22 it was only thanks to the help of the Undisputed Era.

07:25 Dream was over.

07:27 He got yet another endorsement from Cena during his feud with Bray Wyatt in early 2020 when

07:33 Cena said that Wyatt, in his opinion, wasn't the future, but the future was superstars

07:38 like Rhea Ripley, Drew McIntyre, Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Riddle, and, you guessed it, Velveteen

07:43 Dream.

07:44 Unfortunately, things wouldn't only go downhill from there, it felt like it was a never-ending

07:48 roller coaster of problems.

07:51 In April 2020, the first allegations emerged online about Velveteen Dream being accused

07:56 of having an inappropriate interaction with a 17-year-old boy.

08:00 This included screenshots and audio recordings published to social media.

08:04 There were allegedly more people accusing him of inappropriate behavior as well, and

08:08 of course, he was quick to deny these allegations.

08:11 But only two months later, more allegations surfaced online.

08:15 This time, he allegedly had some interaction with someone underage, and it involved explicit

08:20 photos.

08:21 At the same time, the wrestling culture, beyond just WWE but across the board, was involved

08:27 in the "speaking out" movement against grooming and inappropriate behavior that included sexual

08:32 abuse and varying degrees of abuse in general.

08:35 For what it's worth, WWE had Velveteen Dream off television around this time.

08:40 Triple H was specifically asked about Velveteen Dream's sudden absence from television around

08:46 that time, and he said it was because of a car accident issue, another legal separate

08:51 problem which details are vague on, and not the allegations against him that we already

08:56 mentioned.

08:57 Triple H claimed the investigation conducted into the situation cleared Dream of any wrongdoing,

09:04 stating that there was "nothing there."

09:07 But there was a sentiment there that Dream's own colleagues had turned on him.

09:13 One such proof of this was when Rhea Ripley liked to tweet showing a fan in the Thunderdome

09:18 - yes, the "at home, let's put fans on a screen" and "wrestle in front of the screens, no fans"

09:24 era - yeah, one of those fans had a sign up that said "Fire Velveteen Dream."

09:29 She liked that tweet.

09:30 This was viewed as a direct reflection of how people within WWE looked at Dream backstage.

09:37 Later example of that would seemingly confirm this, but more on that later.

09:41 When Dream got back on NXT television in late 2020, he was still given a bit of a push,

09:47 but not as much as before.

09:49 By turning into a villain to capitalize on the turning sentiment towards him, he got

09:53 a big win over one of NXT's greatest ever stars in Finn Balor to qualify for a North

09:59 American Championship match.

10:01 Although he never won the title again, he still had major matches against stars like

10:05 Kushida and then Adam Cole.

10:07 But that would prove to be the end for him in NXT, after reports of him rubbing people

10:13 the wrong way backstage emerged.

10:15 The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that a talent had alerted backstage officials

10:20 of an incident with Velveteen Dream that led to him being fired.

10:25 And we need to clarify that this incident was completely unrelated to those two allegations

10:31 that were made against him, which are still allegations.

10:34 That was probably why WWE decided to cut their losses with him in May of 2021 and it felt

10:40 like it wasn't worth the trouble of keeping him around.

10:42 At least that was the sentiment amongst fans online.

10:46 Things always move quickly in pro wrestling and that's why after Dream was released,

10:50 the wrestling world was seemingly ready to move on from him.

10:54 There was some sentiment among a few people that if the previous allegations made against

10:59 him eventually turned out to be false and he was never brought into a courtroom, he

11:03 could use the time away to get himself together, mature as a person, and maybe even make a

11:09 return and a big comeback to a big televised wrestling company.

11:13 That any hope of that was quickly squashed in August of 2022 when he was arrested, not

11:19 once but unfortunately twice.

11:21 The details of the first incident were reported by TMZ, who allegedly said that Dream was

11:26 in a gym and was asked by an employee to leave the section of the gym he was in because it

11:31 was being cleaned.

11:32 Dream then reportedly threw some type of fit and this led to the employee asking him to

11:38 leave the gym.

11:39 What was his response?

11:41 He supposedly threatened him, punched him in the face, maybe even bit him on the chest,

11:45 right next to his armpit for some reason.

11:47 Yeah, we're not making this up.

11:50 As a result, he was charged with battery, trespassing, and a property despite prior

11:56 warning and then was slapped with a misdemeanor charge.

11:59 Footage of him being arrested saw him cussing out the police officers before admitting he

12:04 was a little drunk.

12:05 Ashanti Theodonis of the Hit Row faction in WWE bailed him out, Velveteen Dream was arrested

12:12 a whopping 6 days later.

12:14 This time it was a result of an out of county warrant for a violation of probation by the

12:20 Orlando Police Department.

12:22 This was unrelated to a previous drug possession case slapped against him.

12:26 It should be noted that in this case, he was cleared of charges after spending some time

12:30 in jail.

12:32 Much of the previous case was thrown out after the gym employee stated that he had no intention

12:36 to pursue further legal action.

12:39 The real nail in the coffin came from another former WWE superstar, EC3, who made a huge

12:46 allegation against Velveteen Dream.

12:48 On Sportskeeda's Wrestling Outlaws show, EC3 confirmed the locker room sentiment against

12:56 Velveteen Dream, saying things were "a bit off".

13:00 Dream's behavior was tolerated anyway, but nobody expected the bombshell that EC3 was

13:06 about to drop.

13:07 He said that during a party in his house, he noticed that a camera was placed suspiciously

13:13 in the bathroom, positioned in a way that filmed other people doing their business in

13:18 the bathroom.

13:19 Velveteen Dream quickly hit back, stating that he was tired of people throwing dirt

13:24 on his name, and asked EC3 a question about other things that he was hiding from that

13:31 party, which presumably took place in 2018.

13:35 He specifically asked what kind of powder there was on the table that night.

13:40 EC3, for his part, responded by asking what there even was to address and said it's

13:46 done.

13:47 He recorded people trying to urinate in my bathroom.

13:50 That's the truth.

13:51 Since his release, Velveteen Dream has been trying to push for some type of return with

13:57 WWE, with his Instagram bio saying "Don't dream it, believe it" and asking people

14:03 to "hear his story".

14:05 Unfortunately for him, there's just too big of a stain within the wrestling world

14:10 right now on his name to even come close to WWE or maybe even another televised wrestling

14:17 company giving him a shot.

14:18 At least that's what it feels like right now.

14:21 The truth of the matter is he was given chance after chance by WWE and others within the

14:27 wrestling world to become the star that some people thought he could become.

14:31 Due to his reputation, it seems like Dream is not going to have the opportunities on

14:37 social media that he is pursuing within the wrestling ranks, but that's going to take

14:42 a lot of work and probably years, if all, likely to change.

14:48 One of the big red flags is the fact that a grand total of zero old colleagues in WWE

14:54 have gone to bat or have shown any type of support for him during his unfortunate downfall.

14:59 And let's be clear, we're not rooting for his downfall either.

15:03 When you don't have a single person who wants to say anything good about you, there's

15:07 something else going on here.

15:09 And it has less to do with wrestling and us wanting someone else to not be successful,

15:14 no, it has something to do with someone's health and well-being.

15:16 Ultimately, the story of Velveteen Dream's downfall is unfortunate, sad, and avoidable.

15:23 And how much potential he actually had is something we keep going back to.

15:29 The thought of him being in the ring with John Cena is something I think about now as

15:35 I speak to you.

15:36 He could have been that guy.

15:39 He had that otherworldly charisma.

15:42 But yeah, if you're looking for similar, other sad stories, we've done one as well

15:48 about the recent trials and tribulations of One Matt Riddle.

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