SmackDown is headed to Rochester, New York this week, which happens to be the hometown and current place of residence of Superstar Luke Harper.
The 37 year old former Intercontinental champ has been creatively adrift for the last few months, but did get a bit of online promotion heading into the June 6 show in Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena. Part of the YouTube interview Harper and Aiden English used to start a rivalry included Luke mentioning the upstate New York home he shares with “two dogs, five cats, four chickens, a 5-year-old and a beautiful wife”.
So it’s not surprising he was featured in the local Democrat & Chronicle newspaper as part of WWE’s publicity push for this week’s taping.
In that chat, it’s mentioned Harper is expecting a lot of family and friends to be in attendance on Tuesday night. He was asked about the tendency WWE has to book wrestlers to lose matches when performing in their hometown.
The big man acknowledges that it happens, and that it sucks, but there’s little he can do about it, so...
I know about (the “hometown curse”), and I feel that. 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.
Don’t expect a Harper win on June 6, I guess, and don’t expect him to be happy about it.
Check out the rest of the interview for more on his remarkable journey from an all-boys Rochester Catholic high school to WWE.
And if you follow in his footsteps, don’t plan on winning matches in your hometown.