Triple H hems and haws through addressing WWE investigations into allegations made against Velveteen Dream

Velveteen Dream (Patrick Clark) returned to NXT TV last week after months off TV and is featured on tonight’s show against Finn Balor. His return has renewed questions about allegations made against Velveteen Dream and what WWE did to investigate the situation.

Dream was accused initially in a Reddit thread last April of sending sexually explicit photos of himself, including to a 17 year old, and asking for reciprocation.

By having Dream return to TV, it indicates WWE feels allegations made against him were false, misconstrued, or didn’t raise to the level of impropriety meriting a formal suspension or firing.

Triple H told CBS Sports, when asked about Dream’s return, that in situations like this, “You look into them the best you can, and you find out what is there and what isn’t. … You look into it and find that it is what it is and there’s nothing there.”

Josh Fuller, an accuser, said nobody from WWE contacted him as part of an investigation and expressed frustration. “Myself or anyone else involved weren’t contacted by anybody to my knowledge.”

Dream issued a statement on Twitter earlier this year denying he sent the image. “Be assured I did not communicate inappropriately with anyone,” he said. “A private photo of mine was shared without my consent or knowledge and I am working with a third party to look into this matter.”

Triple H said Dream was off TV because of an injury he suffered in a car accident, indicating that Dream wasn’t not held off TV because of the “Speaking Out” social media movement earlier this summer. “Everything that we have done, we are comfortable with him continuing to do what he does and everything else,” he said. “But he had a car accident. It stemmed down to people thought we removed him from TV for different reasons. We didn’t. He was in a car accident. Once he was medically cleared to be able to return to the ring from his car accident, we continued forward the way we did. We looked into what was there and we didn’t find anything.”

Earlier today, Jason Powell from ProWrestling.net noted to Triple H during his usual scheduled pre-Takeover media conference call what Fuller said on Twitter and also mentioned an Instagram response (a series of 12 clown face emojis) Nia Jax made next to a photo of Triple H and Velveteen Dream with a headline that “nothing was found” regarding the allegations. Powell asked Triple H to detail the investigative steps they’ve taken so far and asked if they plan to reach out to Fuller or if the matter is considered closed.

“So, obviously we take all of these things very seriously – allegations, misconduct, um, of any nature, we take very seriously. Uh, I’ll stand by what I said on CBS. Didn’t do it, didn’t find anything there, um, in the manner of, you know, what we were looking for and we’ve moved on. But it doesn’t change the fact that we take these things seriously. If there’s something else there, we’ll look into it. That goes across the board for anybody. But, we’ve already talked about it so I’d rather move on to other topics.”

Triple H didn’t detail the investigative steps taken, did not specify what their investigation revealed about the veracity of the allegations or Clark’s denial, and did not indicate whether there is an ongoing investigation into further allegations including those from Fuller. The imprecise wording (“Didn’t do it, didn’t find anything there, um, in the manner of, you know, what we were looking for and we’ve moved on”) is not likely to quell the concern many have expressed that Dream’s conduct hasn’t been properly investigated or dealt with.

After stumbling through his answer with CBS Sports, it’s stunning that he wasn’t better prepared today – perhaps with a carefully written statement he could reference – that would have given a more a more detailed, clear answer regarding WWE’s internal investigation and findings regarding this situation rather than the disjointed, ambiguous wording that is likely to lead to more follow-up questions from reporters and concerned fans. If WWE did find the allegations were false or mischaracterized or Dream’s photos were sent without his knowledge, these answers by Triple H aren’t serving Dream well.

https://twitter.com/JoshFullerPW/status/1293999251849129991