A few weeks back, the former Smackdown Tag Team champion revealed on social media that he had requested his release from the company, revealing that’s he’s looking to grow outside the WWE as a performer and person, but was very complimentary toward the company in his statement.
However, according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE will not be releasing Harper from his contract, and has reportedly added six months to his deal because it was frozen due to his time off for wrist surgery. Harper’s contract was set to end towards late November, but now it seems that the Smackdown live star will have to wait out his contract until just before next year’s WrestleMania.
Meltzer notes that the company is doing this to stop talent from going public about their unhappiness with the promotion. WWE is highly concerned about being perceived as the bad guys in the upcoming wrestling war and don’t want fans of the opposition to rally for them in protest against WWE.
There’s no word on what the future holds for Harper going forward. The company can always give the former Intercontinental champion a push to try and persuade him to re-sign with the WWE, or management could keep him on the sidelines and use him as enhancement talent to the stars. Either way, it doesn’t sound like Harper will be going anywhere else soon.