{"id":145729,"date":"2025-11-11T09:15:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T14:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=145729"},"modified":"2025-11-11T09:15:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T14:15:24","slug":"wwe-to-cover-ridge-hollands-surgery-despite-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/11\/11\/wwe-to-cover-ridge-hollands-surgery-despite-release\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE to Cover Ridge Holland\u2019s Surgery Despite Release"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"270\" data-end=\"602\">The exit of Ridge Holland from WWE has taken a new turn that could change the ongoing criticism. On November 10, Luke Menzies (Ridge Holland) revealed on an episode of <em data-start=\"438\" data-end=\"457\">Busted Open Radio<\/em> that WWE will cover his upcoming neck fusion surgery, even though the company had already released him while he was preparing for the procedure.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"604\" data-end=\"893\">It is a very serious surgery, and Ridge Holland will not be able to resume physical activity until around May 2026. The long recovery time makes WWE\u2019s decision to take responsibility for his medical expenses quite significant, especially considering the backlash that followed his release.<\/p>\n<h2 data-start=\"895\" data-end=\"934\"><strong data-start=\"895\" data-end=\"934\">Backlash and Fundraiser Controversy<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"936\" data-end=\"1243\">After his release, Ridge Holland shared that he had been let go while injured, which caused outrage among fans. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/help-a-father-of-3-heal-without-losing-everything\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GoFundMe campaign<\/a> was later started by a relative to help cover his medical bills, with support coming from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/11\/08\/wwe-stars-rally-behind-ridge-holland-after-his-release\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">several figures in the wrestling community<\/a>, including Chelsea Green and Nick Jackson.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1245\" data-end=\"1566\">However, Ridge Holland explained that he had not organized the fundraiser himself. He asked for the campaign to be closed and for the collected funds to be donated to charity. He clarified that he never meant to assign blame or create any conflict, but that the situation was mishandled publicly and taken out of context.<\/p>\n<h2 data-start=\"1568\" data-end=\"1597\"><strong data-start=\"1568\" data-end=\"1597\">WWE\u2019s Role Moving Forward<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"1599\" data-end=\"2020\">The fact that WWE is covering his medical treatment shows that the company is not too quick to abandon injured talent, even in difficult circumstances. Although Ridge Holland\u2019s release came at an unfortunate time, he chose to redirect the donations as a gesture of respect and responsibility. Holland now faces a long recovery ahead, but with the support he has received after surgery, he can focus entirely on healing.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_145601\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-145601\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-145601 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/11-9-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"A WWE NXT graphic featuring Ridge Holland.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/11-9-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/11-9-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/11-9-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/11-9-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/11\/11-9.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-145601\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Credit: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-start=\"2022\" data-end=\"2163\">Still, the situation raises questions among fans and observers about how many similar cases might go unnoticed within the wrestling industry.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<em>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a> for more on Ridge Holland and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out WWE programming on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/title\/81788927\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Netflix<\/a>\u00a0(Raw),\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usanetwork.com\/wwe-friday-night-smackdown\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">USA Network<\/a>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cwtv.com\/shows\/wwe-nxt\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The CW<\/a>\u00a0(NXT), and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Peacock<\/a>\u00a0(archives and premium live event streaming). You can follow WWE on social media and relive top moments on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@WWE\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">YouTube<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The exit of Ridge Holland from WWE has taken a new turn that could change the ongoing criticism. On November 10, Luke Menzies (Ridge Holland) revealed on an episode of Busted Open Radio that WWE will cover his upcoming neck fusion surgery, even though the company had already released him while he was preparing for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5606,"featured_media":145602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,2192,4,3],"tags":[5868],"class_list":["post-145729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wrestling","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-ridge-holland"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5606"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145729"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145734,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145729\/revisions\/145734"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}