WWE: The Rise To Velveteen Dream’s First Championship Reign Has Been Amazing

Currently the North American Champion, The Velveteen Dream has had an interesting journey to get to where he is today in WWE.

The Velveteen Dream, whose real name is Patrick Clark Jr., trained at the Maryland Championship Wrestling training Center. He had his debut on October 3, 2014. Next thing you know, he was seen on (sorry Velveteen) Tough Enough just a few months after that.

Unfortunately, he was eliminated on the sixth episode of Tough Enough, which aired on July 21, 2015. It wasn’t all bad for Velveteen, though. He was offered a developmental contract just months after that episode aired. That was fast.

Now let me hold up right here. As an African-American woman, I’m naturally always going to be nervous whenever anyone who looks a thing like me makes it to the WWE simply because they’ve never had the best history with people of color. Velveteen losing his first couple of matches didn’t exactly help that feeling either.

But, let’s zoom to May 2017 when The Velveteen Dream really became The Velveteen Dream, honey. I’m talking Prince-inspired — clearly. That’s when the tide turned in his career in a good way. He ended up in this shockingly amazing feud with Aleister Black.

More from Daily DDT

• It’s time for Adam Cole and MJF to drop the ROH tag team titles
• Tom Lawlor talks MLW return, AEW opportunity, CM Punk’s WWE return and more
• Eddie Kingston stands to gain the most from the AEW Continental Classic
• Trish Stratus on WWE NXT would help elevate that women’s division
• Randy Orton signs with SmackDown to go after The Bloodline

Now there’s a reason I’m calling this shocking.

It wasn’t even over anything major. Aleister didn’t talk about his momma, take his money, break his mirror, mess up his lighting or anything like that. All he wanted was for Aleister Black to… say his name? Well, that came out the blue. That’s it? That’s it! That’s all he wanted.

Ha Ha! That was some kind of hilarious. But, somehow the feud worked. That’s why I called it shocking because I didn’t see that coming. They had an entire match over this at NXT TakeOver: Wargames.

Crazy.

It really wasn’t even about winning or losing the match. It meant something else to the Dream.

That was his dream — to get Aleister and the entire WWE (NXT) universe to say his name! He lost that match, but he still got what he wanted. So, he still won even in defeat. This is the same feud that was named the best NXT rivalry of 2017 — over asking someone to say his name.

I’m still flabbergasted and I don’t get flabbergasted easy. That was a prime example of a feud we never knew we needed.

Now, people already knew he had potential before that match going all the way back to Tough Enough. But, he’s had huge momentum in the entire company really ever since to the point where he’s caught the attention of John Cena of all people.

Then, 2018 just elevated Velveteen even higher than he already was. I’ve rarely seen this with other wrestlers of color in the WWE in the amount of time that he’s been with the company. So, in my mind, that’s a heck of a feat.

His whole energy is just different than virtually everyone currently in the company.  His matches, his promos, and definitely his interesting outfits. To say he has the “it” factor might still be a massive understatement.

Now around the time Velveteen was apart of the ladder match to crown the inaugural NXT North American Champion with EC3 (somebody else he had an interesting feud with), Killian Dain (of Sanity), Lars Sullivan, Richochet, and Adam Cole (Bay-Bay), that’s around the time I started hearing people talk about him like he was a future champion.

Oh, don’t you worry. The irony in that is coming ladies and gentlemen!

It’s February 2019! It’s been a crazy Black History Month — the most hectic one I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. At this point, Velveteen has stolen the show on pretty much every occasion whether that’s televised NXT episodes or the NXT TakeOvers. Everybody pretty much knew it was only a matter of time before some championship ended up around his waist. It was just a matter of when.

You can’t see it, but I’m smiling so cheesy right because I could care less which championship he ended up with. I was down regardless. Oh, lordy. I feel all tingly. Let’s do this!

So, You ready for that irony? Cool.

The Velveteen Dream was placed in 15-man World’s Collide Tournament and won the whole thing! The result? He earned the opportunity to go after any of the NXT championships (excluding the tag team titles) and the Cruiserweight Championship (if applicable).

He chose to challenge Johnny Gargano — who was the NXT North American Champion! I just can’t.

The same championship that he went for back at NXT Takeover: New Orleans in the ladder match that Adam Cole ended up winning to become the inaugural champ.

Speaking of winning, Velveteen not only stole the show once again in the main event of the February 20, 2019 episode of WWE NXT, but he also defeated Johnny Gargano! Therefore, capturing his first championship in the company.

The Velveteen Dream is now The NXT North American Champion! He’s the champion. He Is The Champion!

Oh, it was so sweet to see that. It was like heating up a nice chunk of Velveeta at just the right temperature and just drinking it. Warmed me up inside. It was like a rush all over my body. I literally can’t wait to see what his championship reign brings; I just hope it’s a lengthy one.

I personally wished he’d went for the NXT championship. But, that wasn’t my decision to make and it’s not like the NXT North American Championship is looked at as a “mid-card” level championship. I mean, let’s look at the list of champions already.

Adam Cole (Bay-Bay), Ricochet (who held the title the longest; 161 days), Johnny Gargano, and now, The Velveteen Dream! That title has become pretty prestigious already, and it hasn’t been around for a year yet. Well, If anyone can elevate that title even higher, it’s Velveteen – and I can do nothing but stan.

Congratulations Velveteen! Long may you reign!