Ridge Holland has discussed finding out WWE didn’t see value in him.
On October 13, Luke Menzies (FKA Ridge Holland) revealed WWE would be letting his contract expire when it came up on November 14. Shortly after, Bryan Alvarez revealed via Wrestling Observer Radio that Holland had been making ‘NXT money’ as opposed to what he’d been earning having previously been on the main roster. Now, the 37-year-old has addressed taking a pay cut after going to NXT.
Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Luke Menzies talked through an interaction with a head coach at WWE who told him ‘they’ don’t see the value in him.
“I went from the main roster down to NXT, and then I remember being in a conversation with a head coach. They threw the number out there. I was like, ‘Well, why? Where does this number come from?’ And they said to me straight point blank, ‘They’ — whoever ‘they’ is, I asked the question, they couldn’t tell me — They said, ‘They don’t see the value.’ So I kept asking, ‘Who’s they?’ I would like to talk to these people in person. I would like to get their side of the story… And it was a contradiction. If they didn’t see value, they would cut me right there and then. ‘They’ didn’t see the value, so why offer me a three year deal for a 50% pay cut? Which obviously I said, ‘Look, I can’t be tied in at 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 50% came from other than the fact that they said they didn’t see the value. And that lit a fire under my ass. I said, ‘Well, I’ll prove you wrong.’ And obviously, things went the way they went, really.”
-Luke Menzies
As yet, little is known about Menzies’ wrestling future as the star remains sidelined after suffering an injury while working for TNA as part of their relationship with WWE. It goes without saying that we wish him all the best moving forward.
After his contract was initially set to run until November 14, it was revealed late last week that WWE had terminated Menzies contract early after he tweeted his discontent over the situation. You can read more about that here.
Elsewhere in the interview, Menzies discussed being asked by a head coach whether he’d put any feelers out to other companies, despite still being under WWE contract. You can read more about that here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Ridge Holland’s WWE exit as soon as we hear more.
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