Luke Harper publicly requested his release from WWE last month. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Vince McMahon rejected Harper’s request in writing. The report continues to say that WWE made the decision not to use Harper after Vince McMahon expressed that he doesn’t “get him”.
“The update on Harper is that Vince McMahon, in writing, told him he wouldn’t release him,” Dave Meltzer wrote.
“One person close to the situation told us that (Harper) needs to get out because they made a call that they weren’t going to use him after Vince saw him in his return,” the report continued.
Evidently, Vince had concerns that Harper was unable or unwilling to do a Southern accent.
“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).”
Harper worked a dark match with EC3 on the Smackdown after Mania which was largely done to test Drake Maverick being paired with EC3. Vince McMahon reportedly hated the match and did not like the manager spots with Maverick and EC3.
Timing Of Luke Harper Requesting His Release
The report continues to mention what led to Harper requesting his release from the company.
“The creative meeting the day of the draft when it was asked about which brand Harper would be on, Vince said how the guy can’t even do a Southern accent, said the match with EC3 was bad, so they didn’t put him with either brand and that’s when he asked for his release.”
