Ryan Dilbert's 10-Count: Luke Harper Must Be Major Player for WWE After Return

1. A Monster Deserving of the Marquee

Luke Harper is just the big, snarling beast WWE needs. The company has to unleash him when he returns and let him tangle with its top stars.

Harper tore his knee up last March. The injury prevented him from competing at WrestleMania and forced him to watch the summer's draft and Raw-SmackDown brand split unfold without him. He is poised to emerge once more, though.

PWInsider's Mike Johnson reported, "Harper is scheduled to be at the WWE Performance Center this coming week in order to test his knee and hopefully be officially cleared to return to the ring."

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter tweeted that Harper should be back before long:

When Harper is healthy, WWE needs to find a place for him on the marquee. Its babyfaces would benefit greatly from trading blows with this hard-hitting barbarian.

Last year, John Cena called Harper one of the most underused talents on the roster:

Cena was absolutely right. Harper is a rare find—an agile big man and an unsettling predator. He was the most compelling figure of The Wyatt Family other than the patriarch himself. Yet other than a brief Intercontinental Championship run in 2013, Harper hasn't been more than a second banana.

The time is now to change that, to bring back Harper and let him roost on a high rung.

The Wyatt Family is now disbanded. Raw is in need of roster depth. And at 36 years old, Harper's prime could slip away before WWE makes full use of it. 

Harper would flourish against Raw's most prominent fan favorites.  

The New Face of Desolation would make for an ideal Goliath against a perennial David like Sami Zayn. As Seth Rollins seeks to remain a Universal Championship contender, his having to first go through a brick wall named Harper is a story with great potential. 

The list of appealing feuds WWE can choose from is lengthy, from Harper vs. Cesaro to Harper vs. Finn Balor (once he recovers from shoulder surgery).

So far, the New Era has been all about WWE making bold moves with fresh faces. The company crowned Kevin Owens universal champion. It elevated Dolph Ziggler to world title status. It has showcased Heath Slater's story of desperation.

Harper's turn to get the spotlight he has long deserved should be next. 

He has been a breakout star in waiting, and Harper would make an intriguing monster heel, the massive creature blocking WWE's heroes' paths. His return is a chance to reboot his character and allow him to tap into his potential.

2. Slater's Slump

Triumphs mean so much more when you occupy the position that Heath Slater does.

The lovable loser hasn't tasted a pay-per-view victory in a long while. At Backlash on Sunday, he has a legitimate shot to change that.

According to CageMatch.net, Slater is 0-9 in his last nine PPV matches. That streak includes losses against a team with a 51-year-old Brooklyn Brawler and another against Adam Rose and a man in a bunny suit. Slater's last PPV win came way back at Elimination Chamber 2011.

If he and Rhyno can continue their Cinderella run at Backlash and win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, it would be just the third PPV win of The One Man Rock Band's career.

3. Throwback Video of the Week: Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins

Raw general manager Mick Foley made it official on Monday night: Rollins will challenge Owens for the WWE Universal Championship at Clash of Champions on Sept. 25.

This will be their first one-on-one meeting in WWE, but the two clashed years ago in another realm—Ring of Honor.

In 2010, Owens (Kevin Steen at the time) ambushed ROH's world champ Rollins (then Tyler Black). The bruiser left Black out cold after a package piledriver:

The attack set up a title match between them in July of that year. Black retained in a bloody contest. Signs point to a different result this time around, though.

The Kevin Owens Era is just beginning.

4. Bet on a Quick Rise for Aliyah

Asuka will rule the NXT women's division as long as she's around, but look for Aliyah to move up the ladder in her direction in the next few months.

A flood of new talent has reshaped the division in the past few weeks, and many of the prospects look excellent in the early going. Aliyah is chief among them.

The Toronto native is quick and agile like much of her peers, but it's her performance skills that will separate her. Aliyah is already quite comfortable as a heel.

She's ferocious and mean with a command of in-ring villainy. She doesn't appear to be acting the way the way so many raw prospects do. Aliyah is convincing as her character, and that's mighty hard to teach.

5. Batista's Newest Gimmick

David Bautista, better known to WWE fans as Batista, found a gig as a monster heel in a world outside the squared circle.

He played the monstrous Tong Po in Kickboxer: Vengeance.

The former WWE champ looks like a perfect fit as the movie's main villain. The roles keep coming for Bautista, making it less and less likely he'll make a return to the ring anytime soon. 

6. The Artist Formerly Known as Stardust

It couldn't be clearer that Cody Rhodes made the right decision to leave WWE. He looks more energized, fulfilled and content than he has in years.

In a statement he tweeted in May, he laid out his frustrations with the company and spoke of seeking something he lost during his WWE stay. He appears to have found it during his tour of wrestling's independent circuit.

Rhodes competed in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament over the weekend and flourished in this new environment.

Rhodes and Sami Callihan put on a fun match in the opening round. As Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet noted, the second-generation star slipped on the protective mask he wore after his 2011 feud with Rey Mysterio.

He appears to be having fun on his post-WWE journey. Free to create his own schedule and not have to deal with WWE backstage politics, Rhodes appears to have found the blueprint to falling in love with the art form again.

7. Mahal Back to the Bottom of the Pile

Jinder Mahal isn't playing air guitar in leather pants, but things haven't changed in terms of his position with the company since he was a part of the comedy act 3MB. WWE has made Mahal a de facto jobber.

The heel returned to Raw on Aug. 1 after a two-year absence. Mahal defeated his old teammate Heath Slater to score a roster spot.

Since then, he has quickly become a stepping stone, going 0-6 per CageMatch.net. And he hasn't lasted longer than four minutes in his last three matches on Raw.

Opponent	Show/Date	Result
Heath Slater	Raw, Aug. 1	Win
Jack Swagger	Superstars, Aug. 8	Loss
Sin Cara	Main Event, Aug. 9	Loss
Neville	Raw, Aug. 15	Loss
Jack Swagger	Superstars, Aug. 22	Loss
Sami Zayn	Raw, Aug. 29	Loss
Darren Young	Sept. 5	Loss

He has to be wondering what he can do to get WWE to start presenting him as something other than fodder. Even Bo Dallas is in the early stages of a push. 

8. The Best from Backlash

After a seven-year absence, Backlash has returned to the WWE calendar, revived after this year's brand split.

In terms of history, the PPV is no WrestleMania but boasts an impressive collection of memorable bouts. Weapon-heavy battles and collisions of Superstars with great chemistry comprise much of its greatest hits.

Credit: WWE.com

Before Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose look to add to that list, check out some of Backlash's top in-ring works of art:

• The Rock vs. Steve Austin: Backlash 1999
• Randy Orton vs. Cactus Jack: Backlash 2004 (No Holds Barred)
• Edge vs. Chris Benoit: Backlash 2005 (Last Man Standing)
• John Cena vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton vs. Shawn Michaels: Backlash 2007 (Fatal 4-Way)
• John Cena vs. Edge: Backlash 2009 (Last Man Standing) 

Cena contributed to a good number of Backlash's most entertaining contests, but he won't around for this year's edition.

That's strange, because his absence isn't due to injury or a hiatus. He's been wrestling in dark matches after SmackDown has gone off the air, per the Internet Wrestling Database. WWE has decided to push the megastar aside in favor of the New Era's fresh faces.

9. Missed Opportunities with The Miz vs. Ziggler

WWE has had little time to delve into the feud between The Miz and Dolph Ziggler, but strangely it isn't taking advantage of the built-in animosity between the two Superstars.

The story heading into the Intercontinental Championship match at Backlash has focused on The Miz being a coward and Ziggler's continuing attempt to prove he can win the big one. The rivals' previous history hasn't even been mentioned.

In 2014, The Miz and Ziggler traded the IC title back and forth. Between July and September that year, Ziggler dethroned The Miz twice. And here they are again, with that same title on the line.

Why not add that history to the current storyline? Why not have The Miz vow that he won't fall to Ziggler as he did in the past?

There has been too little about why Ziggler wants that belt again, too. The Showoff rapidly switched his attention from the World Championship to the IC title with minimal explanation. It's fine if he wants to pursue The Miz's crown instead, but Ziggler has to lay out his reasons.

His not doing so has left this rivalry with too many unanswered questions and not much electricity.

10. On "The Old Day" Segment

Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson need to beat down WWE Creative before the next Raw. The show's writers have continually put them in a position to fail. On Monday's Raw, The Club delivered the most cringeworthy moment of their WWE tenure. 

They mocked The New Day by bringing out "The Old Day" in a skit filled with puns and potty humor. It was universally panned.

Former WWE tag team champ Lance Storm didn't stick around to watch it:

Bryan Alvarez of Figure Four Online noted how even fans of The New Day disliked the moment:

Rolling Stone writer Kenny Herzog called it "the most unwatchable, ill-conceived boondoggle of a segment in some time." It's hard to argue with Herzog. After seeing Gallows and Anderson bomb with such poor material, suddenly the Lana-Ziggler-Rusev love triangle doesn't seem so bad.

WWE needs to stop the bleeding as soon as possible and start presenting Gallows and Anderson as merciless warriors, not two-bit comedians.