In an interview released by QwalityTV, Luke Harper goes in depth on the knee injury he suffered back in March that has had him on the shelf and in recovery. His initial outlook was bleak but after some time working with doctors, he's ready to come back better than ever, and we can expect to see him back before the year is out but hopefully even before the summer is over.
"In late March, a dark match on Raw, Wyatt Family vs. four random jerks, throwing punches and my leg buckled and popped with no contact. I thought I got shot, I thought someone hit me. No one was around me. I tagged out and said 'my leg is broken.' They said 'you have an ACL injury.' Several people told me that. I got the MRI, got the x-rays and all that stuff and it turned out I dislocated my patella and tore my MPFL ligament, which is the thing that holds your patella into place.
"I think mine was a freak occurance. I think I may have been predisposed to another patella injury after... I think maybe my knees were a little bit off and never properly fixed or diagnosed that way, so I think I was almost waiting for it to happen, not knowing that. But I dislocated my other patella in 2011, so if you dislocate both patellas I have to assume something is amiss in my body not due to wear and tear.
"The first few hours after the injury I thought it was a catastrophe and assumed life was over. Moving on from there after the surgery going to the doctor and working with the champion sports down there, that kind of turned me around to think that I can come back bigger, and better, and stronger, and a more well refined athlete and professional wrestler. It gave me time to work on all kinds of stuff at home and spend time with my family and my 4-year-old. So, a blessing in disguise but I'm also itching to be back into the ring and it's just a matter of time at this point.
"It should be August, September, October, at the latest. Hopefully September at the latest, hopefully August at the earliest."
He also has plans to use this injury to advance his career:
"My ultimate career goal is to retire at 36. Wait, I'm 36, never mind. I want to be the world heavyweight champion, obviously, and I plan on doing that. I plan on using this as like a vehicle, this injury, to get to that."
He can't come back soon enough.