WWE Send Message With Star’s Cruel Termination

WWE might well have been sending a message to others when they cut one star after they spoke out against the company.

Ridge Holland found himself facing unemployment when he was told his WWE deal was not going to be renewed. That situation was made a lot worse due to the fact that Holland had been injured during a match for TNA, forcing him out of action for several months.

Holland went public with his unhappiness and claimed he’s now struggling to make his mortgage payments. In response, WWE cut his deal early.

WWE Planned To Cut Ridge Holland One Year Ago

Discussing the situation on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer gave more background on the situation and noted WWE may have been sending a message by cutting Holland’s deal early:

They had told him he was done as of November 14th. They’d pay him through the contract; they had the right to cut him earlier if they wanted to, but he’d signed a one-year renewal at a lower rate. Essentially, the way that went down, they were gonna cut him a year ago, but he worked out a deal with them where he would go to NXT for one year, and he’d be paid less because he was in NXT than he’d been paid before.

They probably in reality decided that his name might help NXT a little bit because he’s got main roster value. It didn’t really help them. He wasn’t over; he did get over with the Andre Chase thing. I don’t think they really expected that to get over, and they didn’t follow up. He’s been a lame duck for a while.

Then he got hurt, which was a weird thing because I’m sure they were gonna cut him, and it wouldn’t have been an issue because they just wouldn’t renew his deal. But then he got hurt, so it changed everything. What happened here was, in your deal, you’re not supposed to talk badly about the company in public, so they felt now they had the right to fire him. It’ll cost him one or two weeks’ pay because he wasn’t getting paid after November 14th anyway.

They wanted to send a message out there that if you say anything bad, you can be cut.

Andrade was recently fired by WWE and made his return to AEW, where he attacked Kenny Omega. However, WWE soon intervened as they believe the star is under a one-year non-compete clause, as he was fired by the company for cause.

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