From the WWE rumor mill: Reason why WWE shortened Harper & Rowan's names

What's the story?

On a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed the shortening of Luke Harper and Erick Rowan to just simply Harper and Rowan since their return to WWE television as the Bludgeon Brothers.

In case you didn't know...

As part of the Wyatt Family, Harper and Rowan were the second ever NXT Tag Team Champions. On May 2, 2013, they defeated British Ambition (Adrian Neville & Oliver Grey); which was the team who defeated Harper and Rowan in the finals of the initial tournament at the start of the year.

The heart of the matter...

According to Meltzer, Vince McMahon decided the shorten the names of Harper and Rowan because it comes across as sounding more dominant. With the way that the creative is portraying the Bludgeon Brothers, dominant is a word to definitely describe this team.

After weeks of vignettes, the Bludgeon Brothers debuted on the November 21st edition of SmackDown Live where they decimated the Hype Bros. There was a rematch this week with the same result; which led to Mojo Rawley turning on his long-time tag team partner Zack Ryder.

What's next?

It'll be interesting to see if the Bludgeon Brothers get in the mix with Benjamin & Gable, The New Day, and the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos. Considering Harper and Rowan are a repackaged team who has established themselves in the past, there is a good chance they fight for the titles soon.

With Clash Of The Champions coming up in a little over two weeks, we should get more clarity on The Bludgeon Brothers on the next edition of SmackDown Live this Tuesday.

Author's take...

In my Lost In The Midcard Podcast, I thought the exact same thing. I didn't know it was the real reason, but shortening the names to Harper, Rowan, Bludgeon Brother just sounds better, especially the way Greg Hamilton announces them on SmackDown Live.