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Luke Menzies (born 29 May 1988) is an English professional wrestler and former professional rugby league player. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Ridge Holland.

He spent the majority of his rugby league career with various clubs in the Championship, making one appearance in the Super League for Hull Kingston Rovers in 2008. He began pursuing a career in professional wrestling in 2016 and signed with WWE in 2018.

Contents

• 1 Rugby league career
• 2 Professional wrestling career
  • 2.1 Independent circuit (2016–2018)
  • 2.2 WWE
    • 2.2.1 NXT (2018–2021)
    • 2.2.2 SmackDown and Sheamus' protégé (2021–present)
• 3 Championships and accomplishments
• 4 References
• 5 External links

Rugby league career

Menzies signed for Hull Kingston Rovers in September 2007, making one appearance in the Super League in 2008. He later appeared for a number of lower league clubs such as Batley Bulldogs, Oldham (Heritage No. 1231), Dewsbury Rams, Hunslet, and Swinton Lions. He joined Salford Red Devils in 2014, making one appearance for the club. In 2015, he joined York City Knights on loan. 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 was trained to be a professional wrestler by British wrestling legend Marty Jones, before making a name for himself in the North East of England for promotions like 3 Count Wrestling, New Generation Wrestling and Tidal Championship Wrestling.

In December 2017, Menzies made an appearance for Defiant Wrestling in a losing effort against Jurn Simmons.

On April 21 of 2018, Menzies defeated El Ligero, Joseph Conners and champion Rampage Brown in a 4-Way Elimination Match to win the 3CW Championship. He ended up losing the *le back to Rampage Brown a month later due to him signing a contract with WWE and relocating to Florida.

Menzies' final match on the British independent circuit took place on June 23 for Southside Wrestling, where Menzies was defeated by Gabriel Kidd.

WWE

NXT (2018–2021)

In November 2016, Menzies attended a WWE tryout. In May 2018, after spending a further two years on the independent circuit, it was announced that he had signed with WWE. On 29 August 2018 episode of NXT, he made his televised debut in a losing effort to Keith Lee. On 21 November 2019, he made his television debut for the NXT UK brand under the ring name Ridge Holland, defeating Oliver Carter.

On 7 August 2020 episode of NXT, Holland made his first appearance for the brand since 2018, taking part in a triple threat match against Oney Lorcan and Damian Priest in which the winner would go on to NXT TakeOver * to compete in a ladder match for the vacant NXT North American Championship, which Priest won. NXT General Manager William Regal later announced that Dexter Lumis had pulled out of the ladder match at NXT TakeOver * 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. At NXT TakeOver 31, after the main event of Kyle O'Reilly against Finn Bálor for the NXT Championship, he 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, establishing himself as a heel. On 7 October 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.

After a nine-month absence due to injury, Holland returned on 27 July 2021 episode of NXT, *isting Oney Lorcan and Pete Dunne in defeating Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher and subsequently beat both men down post match, teasing an alliance between the three. On 7 September episode of NXT, Holland and Dunne attacked Lorcan and Danny Burch, ending their alliance. On 12 October episode of NXT 2.0, Holland wrestled his final match on NXT, teaming with Dunne in a loss to Kyle O'Reilly and Von Wagner.

SmackDown and Sheamus' protégé (2021–present)

As part of 2021 Draft, Holland was drafted to the SmackDown brand. On 5 November episode of SmackDown, during a backstage interview, Holland referred to Sheamus as his idol. On 19 November episode of SmackDown, Holland helped Sheamus defeat Cesaro, Ricochet, and Jinder Mahal in a four-way match, starting an alliance between the two. Holland made his in-ring debut the following week on SmackDown, where he lost to Cesaro.

On 1 January 2022 at WWE Day 1, Holland would team with Sheamus to defeat Cesaro and Ricochet, however, during the match, Holland would suffer a broken nose and would be removed mid-match. On 29 January at Royal Rumble, Holland participated in his first Royal Rumble match as the fifth entrant, lasting 19 minutes before being eliminated by AJ Styles. On Night 2 of WrestleMania 38, he teamed with Sheamus to face The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods), with Butch in their corner, in which they were victorious.

Championships and accomplishments

• 3 Count Wrestling
  • 3CW Championship (1 time)

References

External links

• Ridge Holland on WWE.com
• Luke Menzies's profile at Cagematch.net, Wrestlingdata.com, Internet Wrestling Database
• Luke Menzies at IMDb
• Ridge Holland on Twitter

SmackDownNXT 2.0NXT UKPerformance
CenterBroadcast
team

• Alicia Taylor
• Andy Shepherd
• Booker T
• Byron Saxton
• Corey Graves
• Drew Gulak
• Funaki
• Jerry Lawler
• Jimena Sánchez
• Jimmy Smith
• Kayla Braxton
• Marcelo Rodríguez
• Michael Cole
• Mike Rome
• Moein Al Bastaki
• Nigel McGuinness
• Pat McAfee
• Peter Rosenberg
• Rob Schamberger
• Salil Acharya
• Sam Roberts
• Scott Stanford
• Vero Rodríguez
• Vic Joseph
• Wade Barrett

Producers
and writers

• Bruce Prichard
• Chris Park
• Dana Warrior
• Drake Maverick
• D-Von Dudley
• Jamie Noble
• Jason Jordan
• Jeremy Borash
• Jim Smallman
• Kenny Dykstra
• Michael Hayes
• Molly Holly
• Petey Williams
• Shane Helms
• Shawn Daivari
• Shawn Michaels
• Tyson Kidd

Off-screen
personnel

• John Laurinaitis
• Joseph Maroon

Unbranded

• Adam Pearce
• Bayley
• John Cena

Amb*adors

• Beth Phoenix
• Bob Backlund
• The Boogeyman
• Brie Bella
• Eve Torres
• John "Bradshaw" Layfield
• Kane
• Maria Menounos
• Maryse
• Nikki Bella
• Paige
• Ricky Steamboat
• Sgt. Slaughter
• Superstar Billy Graham
• Tatanka
• Tatsumi Fujinami
• The Undertaker
• *us O'Neil

McMahon family

• Mr. McMahon
• Stephanie McMahon
• Triple H

See also

• Women in WWE
• Former personnel