4 WWE Superstars who Luke Harper faced but never defeated

Luke Harper has been one of the most talked-about WWE Superstars since WrestleMania 35.

The former Wyatt Family member posted a lengthy statement on Twitter shortly before the event which explained how much his WrestleMania Axxess match against Dominik Dijakovic meant to him, having been largely ignored by WWE during his four-month spell out of in-ring action due to injury.

He went on to defeat Dijakovic in one of the best matches at Axxess, while he also competed in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 35, but then he surprisingly revealed on Twitter that he has asked to be released from his WWE contract.

Unlike Tye Dillinger and Jack Swagger, who were granted their releases after publicly asking to leave, it has been widely reported over the last few days that Harper will not be allowed to depart WWE and that the company may even extend his contract due to the time he missed with his injury.

Given the numerous reports about Harper’s contract status, now feels like the right time to run through some of the highs and lows of his WWE career, so let’s take a look at four of the most notable Superstars who he faced but never defeated in a televised match.

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#4 Mark Henry

Luke Harper and Mark Henry were involved in eight televised matches against each other during their time together on the main roster. Interestingly, all of those matches came between August-September 2014 and they were all won by Henry.

The WWE Hall of Famer began his winning run with a disqualification victory over Harper on an episode of SmackDown, leading to a tag match between Henry & The Big Show and Harper & Erick Rowan, which the babyfaces won.

Over the next four weeks, Henry teamed with Big Show, Roman Reigns, Chris Jericho, John Cena and The Usos in various tag matches to defeat Harper on another six occasions on both Raw and SmackDown, and then he turned heel and ended up teaming with the Wyatt Family member at Survivor Series.

The two men were also involved in three multi-man matches against each other (Royal Rumble 2016, Royal Rumble 2017 and the 2017 Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal), but neither of them were able to win.

#3 CM Punk

Luke Harper, Erick Rowan and Bray Wyatt were only on the same WWE roster as CM Punk for six months, but “The Best In The World” was still involved in seven televised matches against Harper during that time.

Their first encounter came on Raw in November 2013, with Punk winning in 11 minutes. The following week, the Wyatt Family and The Shield joined forces in a 12-man tag match on Raw which resulted in a victory for Punk, Daniel Bryan, Cody Rhodes, Goldust and The Usos.

Harper went on to team with the rest of the Wyatt Family, plus members of The Shield, in various matches towards the end of 2013, including at Survivor Series when he teamed with Rowan against Punk & Bryan (aka “The Best and The Beard”), but he ended up on the losing side on every occasion.

In the end, Harper’s televised record against Punk read: zero wins, seven losses.

#2 Jinder Mahal

WWE was short of three-person factions from 2013-2014, hence why The Shield constantly faced makeshift trios during their first run together, so it was surprising that the Wyatt Family never crossed paths with 3MB members Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal in a six-man tag match when both teams were on the same roster for almost a year.

Luke Harper’s first televised match against Mahal had to wait until April 2017 when “The Modern Day Maharajah” surprised everyone by defeating Harper, Sami Zayn, Mojo Rawley, Erick Rowan and Dolph Ziggler in a six-pack challenge to become the #1 contender for Randy Orton’s WWE Championship.

After defeating Orton for the title at the Backlash pay-per-view, Mahal went on to pick up a one-on-one victory over Harper in a nine-minute match on SmackDown in June 2017, and the two men did not cross paths again until the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 35.

Harper teamed with Orton to defeat Mahal and Rowan at an untelevised live event in May 2017, but the record books still state that "The Modern Day Maharajah" is undefeated against the former Wyatt Family member on television.

#1 Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar was eliminated from the 2016 Royal Rumble by Luke Harper, Braun Strowman and Erick Rowan. However, as Harper did not go on to win the Rumble, it would be unfair to include the elimination in the ‘defeated’ category.

Two months later, it looked as though WWE was setting up a match between Lesnar and Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 32. To continue the build for the dream encounter, “The Beast” took on Wyatt and Harper in a 2-on-1 handicap match at Roadblock 2016.

Wyatt ended up standing on the outside of the ring for the entirety of the match, meaning Harper essentially faced Lesnar in a one-on-one contest. The former Intercontinental champion put up a good fight before taking the loss after five German suplexes and an F5.

Other than the 2017 Royal Rumble, which was won by Randy Orton, Harper and Lesnar never crossed paths again on WWE television.