Luke Harper announced a few weeks ago that he has requested his release from WWE. News broke last week that WWE would not be granting his release request and would actually be adding some months to his contract due to the time that he missed while injured.
Since WWE wants to keep him, many fans have wondered why they aren’t using him on television.
In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscribe here), Dave Meltzer provided an update on Harper. He shared some backstage notes on why Vince McMahon hasn’t used Harper since he returned.
Here is an excerpt from Meltzer on the situation:
“One person close to the situation told us that he needs to get out because they made a call that they weren’t going to use him after Vince saw him in his return. Vince said that he didn’t “get him” and complained that he couldn’t even do a Southern accent (that was from them wanting him to do a Southern accent four years ago). He was regularly pitching ideas when he was out with an injury and they turned down every pitch.”
My Take: As a big Harper fan, this is extremely frustrating if true. He had such a great (but short) run as a singles guy a few years ago. Fans were clearly invested in him and wanted to cheer for him as a babyface. I don’t know why they have never given him another chance. Vince doing Vince things I guess.
On a related note, check out the latest rumor on the plans that were scrapped for EC3.