On the October 10 episode of "SmackDown", as a heel again, Harper returned to television in a vignette where he was once again aligned with Erick Rowan. The duo were dubbed "The Bludgeon Brothers", with Harper's ring name shortened to simply "Harper". The team wrestled their return match on the November 21 episode of "SmackDown", defeating The Hype Bros (Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley). At Clash of Champions on December 17, The Bludgeon Brothers defeated Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze) in a squash match. Going into 2018, The Bludgeon Brothers began to target SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos, as well as their rivals The New Day.