Ridge Holland on Significant Pay Cut He Took in WWE & Not Being Sure How WWE Came Up with 58% Cut Figure, Financial Hardships He Suffered Over Pay Cut Issues, & His Belief WWE Will Pay for His Neck Surgery and Rehab

Nov 10, 2025

As noted before, WWE terminated Ridge Holland’s, real name Luke Menzies, contract on November 5th following recent comments he made on social media about his grievances over WWE’s decision to let his contract expire while he was injured. Holland’s contract had originally been set to expire on November 14th. Holland has been out of action since this past September due to a lisfranc injury he suffered at a TNA Impact! taping.

A recent episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast featured Holland as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Holland’s thoughts about the significant pay cut he took to stay in WWE for his last deal and how WWE came up with the valuation of a 58% pay cut for him.

“It was a contradiction. If they didn’t see value, they would cut me right there and then, right? If they didn’t see the value. So why offer me a three-year deal for a 58 percent pay cut? Which I obviously said — 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 58 percent came from, other than the fact that they said they didn’t see the value. And that lit a fire under my ass to say, ‘Well, I’ll prove you wrong.’ And obviously things went the way they went, really. You know, I got taken off TV and, like I said, to Evolve. Used it as an opportunity, tried to rebrand myself. Went to TNA, had a great time, wrestled Mike [Santana]. And then the foot injury happened and then I got, you know, not renewed and then subsequently fired because of my own actions.”

Holland also gave his thoughts about how he would pitch ideas and ask what he was doing wrong over the past year after being taken off of NXT television but was always told that everything was fine.

“When I got taken off [NXT] TV, I was asking, I was pitching ideas. One of the pitches was for me and [Yoshiki] Inamura to do a best-out-of-five series. 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 p*ss in my pocket and tell me it’s raining.”

Holland also gave his thoughts about the financial hardships he and his family suffered due to the large pay cut from WWE.

“Obviously I had saved money, but because of the pay cut, those savings went into, kind of, helping with the shortfall for taking the pay cut,. So they were no longer there, right?”

Holland also gave his thoughts about his current health situation and in-ring return plans.