There have been a number of WWE departures throughout the year as the company has let several deals expire. Last month it was revealed that WWE decided not to renew Luke Menzies’ (Ridge Holland) contract and the deal was originally set to expire on November 14th. However, WWE decided to terminate the contract early after Menzies posted the following statement on social media.
“I feel like I’ve just been hung out to dry after getting injured working for another company on behalf of WWE. Add to that my contract not being renewed knowing that I wouldn’t be able to wrestle for 7 months. This is brutal. Yes they are taking care of the surgery and physical therapy but let’s be honest, that’s the bare minimum after what we sacrifice for the company. Plus the possibility of having to get my neck fused too. Talk about getting totally f*****.”
Dave Meltzer recently shared an update on Luke Menzies’ status on Wrestling Observer Radio and noted that he had agreed to take a $200,000 pay cut when he signed a renewal with WWE in 2024.
“He had signed a one-year renewal at a much lower rate. The way that that went down, they were going to cut him a year ago and he kind of worked out a deal with them where he would go to NXT for one year and he would be paid less because he was in NXT than he had been paid before. So they gave him another year.”
Originally Menzies was set to be paid through November 14th, but Meltzer stated that WWE felt he was in breach of contract when he publicly spoke out against the company.
“In your deal, you’re not supposed to talk badly about the company in public. And so they felt that they now have the right to fire him. It’s gonna cost him, it’ll either be one week’s pay or two weeks’ pay, because he wasn’t getting paid beyond November 14th anyway. They didn’t need to do it. I guess they felt that they, however you want to look at it, they wanted to send a message to everybody out there that if you say anything bad you can be cut. And that’s what happened. It’s kinda screwed for him.”
H/T Cultaholic.com