10 Lost Classic WWE Matches
2. Luke Harper Vs. Randy Orton - Elimination Chamber 2017
The late great Luke Harper (also known as Brodie Lee) had one of the most underrated wrestling careers ever. Despite his prominent skills as a tag team wrestler in WWE, he rarely got the opportunity to work major singles matches. Harper had proven for years on the independent scene that he could go in a competitive 15 minute one on one contest but in WWE, he was almost exclusively a tag team guy.
However, at the Elimination Chamber event in 2017, they gave him the singles spotlight. He was caught in the middle of a story involving his Wyatt Family comrades Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton, slowly turning face as he realised the extent of the mutual manipulation between the two. While many wished that Harper was a part of their eventual WWE Championship match at WrestleMania, his performance against the multi-time world champion Orton here was almost enough to make up for his absence there.
The two worked a psychologically intense battle filled with haymakers and beautiful exchanges. It was electrifying action mixed with a compelling narrative and it still might be Orton's best singles match in a decade. We'll never fathom just how much we lost when Harper passed.