Luke Harper is a former Intercontinental Champion and for much of his WWE career, he was the most under-utilized member of The Wyatt Family which was seemingly why he requested his WWE release publically last year.

WWE refused to grant Harper his release for a number of months, but finally, just days after the star trademarked his independent wrestling name “Brodie Lee” WWE opted to grant his WWE release. The no-compete clause attached to his release means that he will not be able to compete until March 2020, but could be on his way to AEW.

Harper was one of the most talented stars in WWE for most of his career which is why his release request was questionable but Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer recently revealed the reason behind Harper’s issues in WWE.

The report revealed that Harper was seemingly unpopular with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon which was why he was used so sparingly by WWE throughout his career and stuck in repetitive storylines with his former Wyatt Family teammate Erick Rowan for so long.

Meltzer went on to confirm that his source had revealed that Harper made the right choice by walking away from WWE, which says everything it needs to about his chance of being given a storyline of substance in WWE. McMahon reportedly didn’t see anything special in Luke Harper and had no plans to push him into an interesting storyline which could be one of the reasons why he requested his release.

Since his release, Harper has returned to his old persona of Brodie Lee, which many believe could lead him all the way to AEW, a company that he will be free to wrestle for in March. While there are a number of rumors regarding The Dark Order and Matt Hardy, Luke Harper could also fill that void in AEW if needed.