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WWE has denied Luke Harper’s request to be released from the company.
According to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Luke Harper was not granted his release from the company following a request that he made public last week.
— Brodie Lee (@ThisBrodieLee) April 16, 2019
Harper’s contract runs through 11/19, but will have additional time added due to a wrist injury that took him out of action for six months. WWE contracts include verbiage that allows the company to freeze contracts if talent are out of action for six consecutive weeks. The time off can be added to their contract.
From an outside perspective, this seems to be a way to dissuade people from going public and saying they’re unhappy. The flip side was Dustin Runnels, who has been out for months with double knee surgery, but because he never said a word, denied he was leaving when rumors came out, was given a release and was able to immediately walk into a good position with AEW
Luke Harper’s deal now runs until Spring 2020, which means another year with the company. Harper was not backstage this Tuesday at Smackdown according to a report from PWInsider.
It’s unknown what plans WWE has for him going forward.