WWE News: Harper reveals frustration with WWE "ignoring" him after recovering from injury
What's the story?
Behind the scenes and on social media, Harper is generally known as a laidback and funny guy. However, with an extensive layoff from injury since the post-SummerSlam 2018 period, he's been on the sidelines but was cleared over a month ago.
In a long write-up posted on Twitter, Harper expressed all sorts of frustrations that he's felt over not getting the call from WWE and not being able to give what he has to offer.
In case you didn't know...
Harper has been out of action since after SummerSlam 2018. He had a good, five-month-long reign with the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, where he teamed with Rowan to form The Bludgeon Brothers.
They won the SmackDown tag titles at WrestleMania 34 and were dominant champions for a while. While both had to deal with injuries, Rowan came back quicker, appearing at the Royal Rumble 2019 to help WWE Champion Daniel Bryan retain the title.
He also formed an alliance with Bryan, one that saw him ditch the Bludgeon Brothers gimmick in favour of an "environmentally conscious intellectual".
Harper, meanwhile, hasn't done much at all.
The heart of the matter
Harper confirmed his WWE return, as he'll be taking on NXT up-and-comer Donovan Dijakovic in the cross-branded "Worlds Collide" tournament during WrestleMania weekend. However, he took the time out to express his frustration, stating that he's been cleared since February 6th.
He said on Twitter (H/T credits WrestlingInc)
I've been cleared since February 6th. I haven't been brought to one television taping since I left to have double ligament reconstruction surgery on October 2nd, 2018.
Harper spoke about his WrestleMania experiences since WrestleMania 30 and how he was left out this year. He expressed a lot of doubt as to whether he was too old, and whether the game had passed him by. He firmly stated that he believes he can still be a World Champion and has a lot to offer. He then said
Being ignored and left home for months exasperated these thoughts and it sucked.
He vowed to bring the best he could to Dijak, and said that this would be his initial steps towards a big comeback.
What's next?
We can fully expect to see Harper back in regular programming after WrestleMania. Whether he stays on SmackDown or moves to RAW is yet to be seen. But one would think that there's more of a place for him on SmackDown.