Luke Harper on Nearly Leaving Wrestling in 2011, Joining WWE

WWE SmackDown Live Superstar and former Intercontinental Champion Luke Harper recently spoke to Democrat & Chronicle.

His thoughts on WWE’s hometown curse:

“I know about (the curse), and I feel that, and trust me it sucks. I actually had a really great match with Dolph Ziggler here that I thought I should have won and I didn’t. That really sticks in my craw. It’s something I think about … but it’s nothing that’s in my control.

Nearly leaving the business when his wife was pregnant in 2011:

“I said to her, ‘This is it. I’m done. I can’t be away from you, we just have to figure something out. I was just going to wrestle locally and I come back from the tour, make the decision, everything’s good, then WWE calls and says ‘Hey, we want you to come try out.’ So, literally, I was as far out as I’ve ever been in my life away from pro wrestling, and they instantly pulled me back in and it was back to it.”

Not joining WWE until he was 32 (he’s now 37):

“Learning the way I did gave me more of a foundation than if I didn’t. I’m glad I didn’t get to WWE until I did because I was more complete at 32 than I was at 25. It all happens for a reason, but if I tried to tell myself that at the time I would have said ‘Screw you.’”