While he was with WWE, Luke Harper was considered one of the most underrated, underutilized wrestlers in the world, and amassed a large fanbase. But despite brief runs (he held the Intercontinental Championship at one point) which suggested a push might be coming, he always seemed to hover around the mid card.
Harper recently debuted with All Elite Wrestling under his real name, Brodie Lee, and has been dominating as the leader of the divisive faction known as The Dark Order. After only being with the company a few months, Lee has an AEW Championship match against Jon Moxley lined up for Double or Nothing.
While speaking to Busted Open Radio, "The Exalted One" revealed why he ultimately decided he'd had enough of WWE and asked for his release.
"The main reason why I didn’t want to be in WWE anymore is because I knew those opportunities weren’t coming. No matter how hard I scratched and clawed, no matter what I proved they weren’t coming. I wasn’t one of the chosen ones. Now, here I am creating it myself, but now, it’s like, I know I’m great at professional wrestling. I know I deserve these spots. Now I have to show up and prove it to other people.
So now there’s a certain pressure on me because I don’t have anyone to blame anymore. So now here I am in these spots... I was in the main event last night. I’m in the main event next Saturday. The pressure is there now because now I have to prove it.”
Lee has definitely impressed from an in-ring standpoint since his debut, but some would argue that his mic skills have left something to be desired, and many feel he's been landed with a dead-end gimmick as leader of a faction that's... well, not exactly the most over thing in AEW.
What do you guys think? Any chance Mr. Brodie Lee wins the title at Double or Nothing? Does he even deserve to be in that spot so soon?