‘There Was Nothing Behind It’ – Ridge Holland Reflects On WWE Main Roster Call-Up From NXT

Published: 5 hours ago by Jamie Toolan | Last Updated: 5 hours ago by Jamie Toolan

Jamie has been covering the world of wrestling for four years and currently holds the position of Assistant Editor of WrestleTalk.com. During his time working for WrestleTalk.com he has written and published over 4,000 news and feature articles covering events and happenings from WWE, AEW, TNA and a variety of international and independent wrestling promotions.

‘There Was Nothing Behind It’ – Ridge Holland Reflects On WWE Main Roster Call-Up From NXT

Former WWE star Luke Menzies (fka Ridge Holland) has reflected on his call-up from NXT to Friday Night SmackDown.

Crossing over from Rugby League to pro wrestling in 2017 and signing with WWE one year later in 2018, Luke Menzies was seen as a major prospect when he first arrived on the scene in the company, however, a serious injury derailed his first sustained run on TV in 2020.

After taking a dive from Oney Lorcan on an October episode of WWE NXT Menzies sustained injuries to his left ankle and right knee, which kept him sidelined for the better part of a year.

While Holland returned to WWE NXT initially, just four months after his return to action he was drafted to Friday Night SmackDown and paired with Sheamus.

Speaking on Tagging in with Chris Harris, Menzies said working with Sheamus was a “great experience,” but he felt as if the call-up was premature given that he hadn’t had the chance to establish his character in WWE NXT due to how quickly it came following his lengthy injury absence.

Menzies said:

“Yeah it was a great experience (working with Sheamus). Obviously Sheamus is one of the most passionate guys out there, and just to preface that, it was a good opportunity but I almost thought there was nothing behind it because I’d not really established my character as I would have done if I hadn’t got injured.

“So when I got called up, the writers on the main roster, they had no reference on how to book me from a character standpoint. So it’s almost like, ok, you’re with Sheamus. And I remember the first promo, it was like the first live promo I got. It was something about being a big fan of Sheamus and watching him wrestle in the pub when I was younger. And I’m like, ‘If I had put wrestling on in the pub I’d have got glassed.’

“My perfect scenario, what would have happened is: bring me up, let me have a couple of get over matches, show what I could do, have Sheamus watching backstage on a monitor, approach him, ‘Hey kid, I like your style.’ Takes me under his wing, and then we would be more or less at least a little bit more of an equal, but I was kind of like a simp for Sheamus.

“So it kind of demoted me slightly, but again, it’s an opportunity and at that point I ain’t going to say, ‘Actually no.’ Who am I? I’m just a small fish in a massive ocean. So I’m going to say, ‘Yes sir, no sir.’ I’m going to do my best.”

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Menzies is set to return to the ring for the first time since his November 2025 WWE departure later this year for the UK’s newly launched National Wrestling League, which has three shows in Newcastle, Manchester and Glasgow between August and October.