Luke Menzies, formerly known as Ridge Holland in WWE, recently spoke with Sportshadow Wrestling for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, the former WWE Superstar spoke about the 2022 Men’s WarGames match being put together 20 minutes before WWE Survivor Series started, as well as how he doesn’t regret the tweets he posted on X that led to his release from WWE.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts. Also embedded below is a complete video archive of the discussion.
On how the 2022 Men’s WarGames match at Survivor Series was put together 20 minutes before the show: “Well, it’s funny because we didn’t have that match put together… I think we only had that match figured out 20 minutes before we were due to go out and do the match. So it was kind of a rush to get everything put together. So I can’t even remember off the top of my head what was planned, what was supposed to go where. We just kind of made it work. There was enough people in that match with enough experience that were talented enough that we just made it work. The main thing was making sure that the biggest thing [happened] when Roman came in. The things in between we managed to fill and make work. I’m not sure. I think it might have been Pete Dunne [who] might have come up with that idea. Because he’s always been the one, especially in matches, that he’s got such a fantastic brain for professional wrestling. If there’s anything that needs figuring out or something, a little bit of magic that needs sprinkling, he’s the man that generally waves that magic wand and then gets it put in. So yeah, I think obviously, there’s a big Sheamus influence there. It’s Sheamus’ move, so we wouldn’t have even thought about it if he didn’t start doing that and get so much mileage out of it. But yeah, I think it was Pete, and then we got a bit of input from Sheamus too. But it worked, the crowd came, it was fantastic.”
On how he doesn’t regret the tweets he posted on X that led to his release from WWE: “The contract was going to not be renewed anyway. So, either way, I wasn’t going to be working for the company. The comments that I made on Twitter definitely sped up that process and caused them to terminate my contract two weeks early. So, I own that. I don’t regret what I said, but I own the fact that what I said caused that. I was just speaking how I felt and [unintelligible words]. So, there’s no regret.”
On reaction to talk of him being unsafe in the ring: “I didn’t get that from any particular wrestler. I think it was more my own thoughts, thinking that people might think that. So that’s what kind of affected my confidence. But the fans don’t really know. The fans think they know about wrestling, but they really don’t. They don’t know anything. If they want to think I’m dangerous, that’s fine. That’s perfect. I’ll take that. If there’s a bit of realism there, and they want to hate me for that, that’s fine. If they think I hurt people, then I do. But people who know me know what I’m capable of. People who know me know my talents. Just because you only saw that much from the WWE spotlight doesn’t mean that you know everything about me. So that’s why I’m looking forward to getting out on the independent scene, different promotions, and showing people, proving to myself that I’m a lot more than what people think.”
