Luke Menzies

Luke Menzies (born 29 May 1988) is an English professional wrestler and former professional rugby league player. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Ridge Holland. He spent the majority of his rugby career with various clubs in the Championship, making one appearance in the Super League for the Hull Kingston Rovers in 2008. He began pursuing a career in professional wrestling in 2016 and signed with WWE in early 2018.

Luke Menzies
Personal information
Born (1988-05-29) 29 May 1988
Liversedge, West Yorkshire, England
Height6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[1]
Weight251 lb (114 kg)[1]
Playing information
PositionProp
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2007 Batley Bulldogs 24 5 0 0 0
2008 Hull Kingston Rovers 2 0 0 0 0
2009 Oldham 30 2 0 0 4
2010–11 Dewsbury Rams 27 3 0 0 12
2012 Batley Bulldogs 25 0 0 0 0
2012–13 Hunslet Hawks 21 0 0 0 0
2014 Swinton Lions 24 4 0 0 16
2015 Salford Red Devils 1 0 0 0 0
2015(loan) → York City Knights 1 0 0 0 0
2015(loan) → Halifax 3 0 0 0 0
2017 Toronto Wolfpack 1 0 0 0 0
Total 159 14 0 0 32
Source: [2][3]

Rugby league career

Menzies signed for the Hull Kingston Rovers in September 2007, making one appearance in the Super League in 2008.[4] He later appeared for a number of lower league clubs such as the Batley Bulldogs, Oldham, Dewsbury Rams, Hunslet, and Swinton Lions. He joined the Salford Red Devils in 2014, making one appearance for the club.[5] In 2015, he joined the York City Knights on loan.[6] Later that year, he joined Halifax on loan. In 2017, he joined the Toronto Wolfpack for their inaugural season.

Professional wrestling career

Independent circuit (2016–2018)

Menzies began training to become a professional wrestler under Marty Jones, making his debut on the UK independent circuit in March 2016.[7]

NXT UK (2016–2020)

In November 2016, Menzies attended a WWE tryout.[8] In May 2018, after spending a further two years on the independent circuit, it was announced that he had signed with WWE.[9] On the 29 August 2018 edition of NXT, he made his televised debut in a losing effort to Keith Lee.[10] On 21 November 2019, he made his television debut for the NXT UK brand under the ring name Ridge Holland, defeating Oliver Carter.[11] On 30 January 2020, he defeated Tyson T-Bone.[12]

NXT (2020–present)

Holland made his first NXT appearance since 2018 on 7 August 2020, taking part in a triple threat match against Oney Lorcan and Damian Priest in which the winner would go on to NXT TakeOver XXX to compete in a ladder match for the vacant NXT North American Championship, which Priest won.[13] NXT General Manager William Regal later announced that Dexter Lumis had pulled out of the ladder match at NXT TakeOver XXX due to an ankle injury, and since Holland was not pinned or submitted in his qualifying match as a result of Lorcan being pinned, he was given the chance to face Johnny Gargano on the August 19 episode of NXT with the winner being added to the ladder match; he lost due to interference from Gargano's wife Candice LeRae.[14] At NXT TakeOver 31 on 4 October 2020, after the main event of Kyle O'Reilly against Finn Bálor for the NXT Championship, Holland appeared at ringside carrying O'Reilly's unconscious Undisputed Era teammate Adam Cole over his shoulders, having apparently attacked Cole; he then dropped Cole over the barricade in front of Bálor and O'Reilly before leaving. On the subsequent episode of NXT, Holland brawled with Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch after defeating Burch in a match. As he caught Lorcan leaping over the top rope to deliver a cross-body, Holland's legs gave out from under him, and he had to be stretchered out of the arena, reportedly suffering an ankle dislocation and fracture in his left leg and a knee patellar dislocation and patellar tendon rupture in his right leg.[15][16]

References
  1. "Luke Menzies Salford Red Devils". www.superleague.co.uk. Rugby Football League. 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  2. RLP
  3. loverugbyleague.com
  4. Mills and Menzies join Hull KR
  5. "Salford Red Devils: Matt Groat and Luke Menzies join for 2015". BBC Sport. 2 September 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 July 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. EX SALFORD RED DEVILS PLAYER TURNS PRO WRESTLER
  8. WWE: Rugby league star Luke Menzies handed try-out in Scotland
  9. Luke Menzies & Daniel Vidot sign with WWE
  10. "NXT results, live blog (Aug. 29, 2018): Undisputed ERA vs. Ricochet & Pete Dunne". Cageside Seats. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  11. "WWE NXT UK #69". Cageside Seats.
  12. "NXT UK results, Jan. 30, 2020: Mastiff comes in conflict with WALTER as Imperium emerge victorious in a Six-Man Tag Team main event". WWE. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  13. "Damian Priest vs. Oney Lorcan vs. Ridge Holland: WWE NXT, Aug. 5, 2020 - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  14. "WWE NXT RESULTS – AUGUST 5TH, 2020". 5 August 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  15. https://comicbook.com/wwe/news/wwe-nxt-ridge-holland-injury-update-ruptured-knee-patellar-ankle-fracture-surgery/
  16. https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe/news-after-finn-balor-adam-cole-kyle-o-reilly-ridge-holland-now-possibly-seriously-injured-wwe-nxt
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