WWE’s decision to bring the Velveteen Dream back on television is disgraceful

Velveteen Dream returned to WWE NXT television on Aug. 12, and wrestling fans should be both upset and disgusted by this decision.

When it comes to accountability and punishment in sports, entertainment, or, especially, the highly unregulated world of sports entertainment, know this golden rule. If someone thinks they can make money off an individual, they will get a pass. Look at Matt Riddle on WWE SmackDown and look no further than the Velveteen Dream in NXT.

Velveteen Dream has multiple allegations against him of being a child predator and grooming. In April, there were allegations that he sent explicit photos of himself to minors. And he still had a title match at an NXT TakeOver Special one month later.

But it got even worse. During the #SpeakingOut movement, multiple people, including wrestler Josh Fuller, came forward with allegations that Dream is a child predator who grooms minors.

And now, fewer than two months later, Velveteen Dream is back on WWE television. And they put him in a main event qualifier match for NXT TakeOver, turning him heel, meaning he’s probably headed for a “push”.

You need to be furious at WWE bringing back Velveteen Dream

I hope this enrages you. I hope the fact that WWE bringing back a potential child predator on television with multiple allegations, including evidence, against him sickens you. And I hope you don’t stay quiet or forget, because that is exactly what WWE is banking on.

WWE thinks they can make money off Velveteen Dream, and they think enough time has elapsed to where people won’t be mad or forget. Hell, they are banking on more people wanting to see the Dream because “he’s good at wrestling” than people with a conscious who cannot bear the thought of this man on their television screens.

It’s not about the law or “being proven guilty” or whatever irrelevant point people want to bring up. There is no “burden of proof” here. WWE have no responsibility to Dream, nor should they be in the business of giving a platform to someone who could very well be preying on children and continuing to use his platform to abuse other minors. Anyone who has been a victim of child sexual abuse or grooming could possibly be triggered by seeing Dream on television.

What WWE and NXT are doing here is unsafe. What they are doing is disgusting, disgraceful, and immoral. But sadly, it is not unexpected when looking at how they have handled these situations in the past.

If it’s someone like Jack Gallagher or Austin Theory whom they don’t care about, they are more than happy to do the right thing and cut ties with them. But if it is someone they feel they can make money off of, they won’t hesitate to put them back on television, regardless of the harm they may have caused or the harm they could currently be causing to either possible current victims or to viewers who are hurt by the very image of a possible abuser on their screen.

There’s not much we can do as fans, other than using our voices to tell WWE that, in no uncertain terms, we don’t want to see Velveteen Dream on our television. We believe victims and take allegations of abuse seriously. That WWE sees any upside in putting Dream on NXT TV again is abhorrent and needs to be condemned as strongly as possible.