Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard a lot about Luke “Ridge Holland” Menzies and WWE.
It began when the company informed the former pro rugby player they would not be renewing his expiring contract while he was out injured, ending a seven-year run at WWE. The situation took another turn when Holland publicly aired some grievances with his time in wresting and the situation, leading WWE to cut him loose before the deal’s end date. A GoFundMe scandal followed, and Holland’s promised to make it up to those
donated when he’s financially able to.
All of which was discussed when the 37-year-old appeared on Busted Open yesterday (Nov. 10).
Regarding his impending neck fusion surgery, and the cost of treatment for the Lifranc injury he suffered just before this story began to unfold — Holland reminded us that WWE is paying his medical bills around both issues:
But he’s still not happy with how he was treated during the end of his run, at least when it came to contract discussions and negotiations:
“[WWE] offer me a three-year deal for a 58% pay cut, which I obviously said, ‘Look, I can’t be tied for three years for that amount of money, I can’t do that. I’ll bet on myself for a year. I’ll do a year and bet on myself, and then let the chips fall where they may.’
”So I really don’t understand where the 58% came from, other than the fact that ‘they’ said they didn’t see the value, and that lit a fire under my ass and I said, ‘Well, I’ll prove you wrong.’
“And obviously, things went the way they went, really… I got taken off TV, and sent to Evolve. Used it as an opportunity, tried to rebrand myself, went to TNA, had a great time, wrestled [Moose], and then the foot injury happened, and then I got, you know, not renewed, and subsequently fired because of my own actions.”
Holland says he sought out feedback from WWE officials on what he could do to prove them wrong during his “bet on himself” year, but soon he figured their minds were made up:
“I asked the questions, I said, ‘Is there anything I need to work on?’ When I got taken off TV, I was asking, I was pitching ideas. One of the pitches was for me and [new NOAH champ and recent NXT guest Yoshiki] Inamura to do a best-out-of-five series, and I pitched a few things, and I kept asking, ‘Is it my promos? Is it my work? What do I need to do? What have I done wrong?’ And everyone says, ‘No, everything’s fine,’ and I’m like, ‘I ain’t stupid. Don’t piss in my pocket and tell me it’s raining.’
Similar to the situation Karrion-now-Killer Kross described, it seems once TKO sees you as mid or undercard player, it’s hard to change their minds. And that caps your earning potential at WWE.
And business is business, so that’s that. WWE is paying Ridge’s medical bills, but they should… so I’m not gonna brake my hand patting them on the back for that.
Let us know what your latest thoughts are on Ridge Holland and WWE in the comments below, and check out his entire appearance on Busted Open here.
