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WWE has confirmed that the undrafted Luke Harper has moved to SmackDown as a free agent signing, meaning he is no longer on the same brand as new RAW recruit Erick Rowan.
The two men, formerly known as The Bludgeon Brothers, had not teamed together for over a year after they both required surgery after SummerSlam 2018. Harper then made a surprising return at Clash of Champions in September 2019 to help Rowan pick up a victory over Roman Reigns.
WWE continued the storyline at Hell in a Cell, where Rowan and Harper joined forces in a losing effort against Reigns and Daniel Bryan, and it soon became apparent that the company’s decision-makers might split them up after they were listed as individual Superstars, as opposed to a tag team, in the 2019 Draft Pools.
Rowan went on to be drafted to RAW at #15 in the third round of the draft on October 14, while it was revealed on WWE show The Bump that free agent Harper had signed with SmackDown.
In this article, let’s take a look at five theories why WWE has decided to separate the former SmackDown Tag Team Champions just one month after they reunited.
#5 RAW needs a new monstrous heel
Between September 2018-April 2019, much of the television time on RAW was dominated by the brand’s top three heels: Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre.
Either as singles competitors or as allies, the trio seemed to be involved in almost every major RAW story involving male Superstars for over six months.
That pattern looked as though it might change after McIntyre moved to SmackDown in the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up, but the ‘Wild Card Rule’ meant that all three men continued to reign supreme on RAW up until Lashley and McIntyre suffered injuries in the summer.
Needless to say, with more scrutiny on WWE’s storytelling than ever before, it is about time the company shook things up on RAW, especially when it comes to the brand’s top heel Superstars.
Erick Rowan has been one of the breakout stars of 2019 following his work with Daniel Bryan on SmackDown and his emergence as a believable heel singles competitor.
With Corbin now on the blue brand, a space has opened up on Monday nights for Rowan to become one of RAW’s top bad guys.
#4 Nothing left for Rowan & Harper to achieve
Let’s face it, there are a lot of tag teams in WWE right now who are unlikely to achieve as much success in the future as they have done previously.
The B-Team, for example, had an entertaining run as RAW Tag Team Champions in 2018, but are they likely to be viewed as serious title contenders moving forward? No. Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder had a career highlight at WrestleMania 35, but will they ever top that moment again as a tag team? Probably not.
There are plenty of other examples of tag teams who hit their peak as a duo years ago (The Ascension and The Colons spring to mind), and Erick Rowan and Luke Harper likely would have found themselves in a similar position if they continued teaming together for the rest of 2019 and into 2020.
The destructive duo arguably had their most successful WWE run between 2013-14 when they worked alongside Bray Wyatt as part of The Wyatt Family. Both men were relatively unknown at the time but they quickly showed the WWE Universe that they should be taken seriously as in-ring competitors, especially during their rivalry with The Shield.
In 2017-18, they had another good run together as The Bludgeon Brothers, with the highlight coming at WrestleMania 34 when they won the SmackDown Tag Team titles.
Following their latest comeback, is there really anything else left for Rowan and Harper to achieve as tag partners? After several years of reunions and rivalries, perhaps WWE decided to split the duo up to avoid them becoming yet another tag team who stays together based on their past glories.
#3 Too many similar tag teams
The NXT tag team division has been the best in all of WWE for the last five years, with the likes of The Revival, #DIY, American Alpha, AOP, SAnitY, The Viking Raiders and The Undisputed ERA taking part in classic matches at TakeOver events.
However, the problem is that the Superstars in these teams often have similar characteristics.
To give an example, the following sentence could easily be used to sum up The Ascension, AOP, SAnitY and The Viking Raiders: Dominant team, limited time on the mic, known at one stage for defeating duos in quick fashion.
As The Bludgeon Brothers, Erick Rowan and Luke Harper could be summed up in exactly the same way, with their brutal exploits on SmackDown in 2017-18 eventually leading them to the SmackDown Tag Team titles at WrestleMania 34.
Although The Ascension’s Konnor & Viktor and SAnitY were unable to recreate their NXT glory days on the main roster, AOP and The Viking Raiders are currently featuring on a weekly basis on RAW – the same brand that Rowan joined in the 2019 draft.
There are obviously differences between AOP, The Viking Raiders and The Bludgeon Brothers, but all three duos have a similar gimmick and mindset when it comes to destroying their opponents.
Perhaps WWE’s decision-makers recognised that there was not enough variety in the tag division, hence why The Bludgeon Brothers are no longer together.
#2 Is Luke Harper going to leave WWE?
The elephant in the room here, of course, is that Luke Harper requested his release from WWE in April 2019 and it remains to be seen whether he will be with the company for much longer.
Shortly after WrestleMania 35, where he returned to main-roster programming for the first time in eight months as a participant in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, Harper took to Twitter to publicly reveal that he had asked to be released.
Reports then came out that Vince McMahon did not like a dark match that the former Wyatt Family member had with EC3 before an episode of SmackDown, which is one of the reasons why he was not involved in the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up.
Only time will tell if Harper’s recent return will lead to him signing a new deal with WWE, but his separation from Rowan has come at an interesting time when you take into account that the former Intercontinental Champion is reportedly out of contract in early 2020.
If Harper really is going to leave WWE, why would the company allow him to keep working alongside Rowan in a dominant tag team for the next few months, only for him to leave at a time when he is just getting his career back on track with his tag partner?
Again, this is only a theory, but it would definitely explain why these two have suddenly been separated.
#1 Revive Luke Harper’s singles career
Alternatively, is it too far-fetched to believe that Luke Harper has agreed to stay with WWE and he is set to receive a renewed push as a singles competitor on SmackDown?
His first major push came in late 2014 after he separated from Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan for the first time. This led to a 27-day Intercontinental Championship reign, which ended in a defeat against Dolph Ziggler in an impressive ladder match at the TLC pay-per-view.
After two reunions with The Wyatt Family, Harper received another push as a singles performer again in early 2017. In fact, his popularity grew so much that it looked at one stage as though he could challenge for the WWE Championship in a Triple Threat match against Wyatt and Randy Orton at WrestleMania 33. In the end, WWE went with a one-on-one match, while Harper competed in the Battle Royal.
Now, almost three years on from his last serious run on his own, there are plenty of dream opponents who the former Intercontinental Champion could face on SmackDown, including Braun Strowman, Brock Lesnar and current IC champ Shinsuke Nakamura.
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