Luke Harper Has an Identity Crisis Going On

The WWE is known to change characters quickly, without any backstory whatsoever. The same seems to be the case for Luke Harper. New look, new personality, and appearing, well, normal at SmackDown. So, let us take a closer look at the normal Luke Harper and his future within the WWE.

Luke Harper & Aiden English

Before SmackDown went live, Luke Harper beat Aiden English in a 6-man tag team match. Then, the WWE released this video after the match, which hints at a rivalry between the WWE Superstars.

The most abnormal thing about the video is that Luke Harper seems to have had a total character transplant. Harper used to be one of the creepier Wyatt family members, now he seems rather normal!

Is This a Good Move?

I do believe that Luke Harper must step away from his Wyatt family character, so changing his persona is not a bad idea. However, there has been no real transformation or backstory, which means there is no viable explanation for the change in Harper’s character. How is that supposed to resonate with an audience?

Not Working with Harper’s Popularity

The thing that has frustrated me greatly is that Luke Harper was actually getting insanely popular when he distanced himself from the Wyatt family. Unfortunately, the WWE ignored this increase in popularity and didn’t do anything with Harper for a long time.

Now, Harper has returned to play a bigger role on the main roster, but many fans have forgotten about the WWE Superstar. The popularity he had a couple of weeks ago has faded already, so Luke Harper must be built up all over again; this is another example of how slow story development is hurting WWE Superstars.

Other Superstars Who Suffered from Slow Story Development

The WWE creative team is not in my good graces at the moment, because many major talents are left on the sidelines. Even if a Superstar gains some popularity, it takes forever for the WWE to actually do something with it. Here are some other examples of Superstars who’ve suffered from this phenomenon.

Nia Jax

After building up Nia Jax for several months, the WWE suddenly dropped the promotion of this talent and moved on to protecting Alexa Bliss. Any popularity Jax gained before WrestleMania is now waning.

Bo Dallas

Just as the “Bolieve” gimmick started to work, Bo Dallas had to deal with poor bookings and a jobber status. Now, any popularity Bo had thanks to the gimmick is gone, because he hasn’t had a match in months…

Dean Ambrose

Dean Ambrose is still widely popular, but him not being used as much over the past couple of months has certainly hurt him. Many accused Ambrose of coasting along. The WWE only caught on recently and now put him up against The Miz. Fortunately, Ambrose is popular enough to recover.

Conclusion

WWE Creative has been on the fire regularly lately, not only by myself, but also by WWE Superstars. Recently, major WWE Superstars vented their frustration with the RAW creative team, but SmackDown does not escape the problem either – given the unexplainable new Harper persona.

What is your opinion of WWE Creative and the way they handle storylines?