Caption‘That bearded guy who wears the same clothes all the time and does not shower?’ this is probably the reaction that Luke Harper earned himself during the starting days of his WWE career.Soon, Harper morphed into one of those internet favorites, mainly because of the Indy experience that his resume boasted of.As they say, wrestling fans often judge a wrestler by looking into his past. This change of perception made the fans forget his negatives and in turn, they started blowing up his positives.Of which, the most notable was his sheer size and physicality. His willingness to brawl his way out of a match and the loyalty to Bray Wyatt gave the fans a lot to remember, and today, on his birthday, we are going to look back into some of those perks of happiness that Harper managed to give us.
#5 First impression is the best impression
If you have to be a monster, you have to take out the monster. This was probably the idea that WWE had in their mind when they introduced Wyatt Family into the main roster. The official debut of the stable happened on the July 8, 2013 edition of Monday Night Raw.
And just like an effective debut should, the Wyatt Family’s debut made people talk.
The trio came in, took out the Kane without wasting much sweat, and announced that a new breed of monsters has arrived. Making a debut is one thing, making a debut by destroying a future Hall of Famer is another thing, and fortunately, for Harper and his Wyatt companions, they fell right into the latter category.
#4 Gracing the biggest stage of them all
The 30th edition of WrestleMania saw Luke Harper as a supporting character in the feud between Bray Wyatt and John Cena. His only job was to stand ringside and give assistance to Bray, or take some beating from the Cenation leader.
A year later, the scenario changed. Harper was in an ensemble cast for the Intercontinental Championship ladder match and it was his chance to display his wrestling talent at the biggest possible stage.
Harper did just that. He did not win the match, but he played his part well and gave the fans some spots that they will cherish for a long time.
#3 Tasting gold in NXT
Erick Rowan and Luke Harper is a powerful tag team. We know it, Rowan and Harper know it, but unfortunately, the WWE main roster creative team doesn’t know this. Otherwise, we would have seen Harper and Rowan become tag team champions at some point in the past few years.
While the main roster writers are blind to an extent, the NXT writers are entirely different. Just two months after Rowan and Harper made their NXT debuts, the NXT team decided to make them the tag team champions.
The duo strolled through Neville and Bo Dallas to win the tag titles and it was Harper’s taste of WWE gold. They did lose the title soon eventually, but it was a good start.
#2 Going up against the Brothers of Destructions
Harper’s stay in WWE has been short. He does not have the wealth of resume to show on his resume but he did get lucky at this year’s Survivor Series. How? He was lucky enough to have a match against Undertaker.
How many superstars in the current roster could boast about such an achievement?
WWE had to come up with two superstars from the Wyatt Family to face the legendary Brothers of Destruction. While the inclusion of Bray was automatic, it was the second member that raised confusion.
Most of the fans thought that WWE would go with Brawn Strowman but WWE rested their faith on Harper, and he did not disappoint.
#1 Aligning with Team Authority
The post-summer period of 2014 witnessed a good storyline between Team Authority and Team Cena. WWE had all the marketing tricks in this angle to put over Survivor Series and one superstar that benefited from this angle was Luke Harper.
After being set free by Bray, Harper returned to television just weeks before the 2014 Survivor Series to pledge his alliance to the Authority. As bosses treat their loyal employees, Triple H also treated Harper with an Intercontinental Championship match against Dolph Ziggler.
Harper did not let the opportunity slip.
After a dramatic match with the Show-off, Harper raised the prestigious championship high and marked his first singles title win in the company.
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