Luke Menzies (Ridge Holland) Reveals Why WWE Scrapped Controversial Ilja Dragunov Injury Angle In NXT

Luke Menzies says Ilja Dragunov’s injury storyline got scrapped because of the higher-ups in WWE.

There was a controversial angle that took place in NXT between Luke Menzies and Ilja Dragunov. This happened after Menzies returned to the NXT brand in December 2023. They had a match on the 12/13 edition of NXT, which ended in a no-contest, after Ilja suffered a storyline neck injury and had to be stretchered out of the ring. 

Speaking with Wrestling Life recently, Menzies opened up about this storyline. 

“That was my idea. … I thought it’s a gimmick. I thought, why not? It’s right there in front of us. Why not use it? I was okay using it. The idea was that I was going in there trying to prove myself as a babyface and trying to redeem myself. It was always like a redemption storyline. But then things kept going wrong almost like my career, and that I was going to keep hurting people accidentally. Then the character turn would be, ‘Maybe I’m supposed to do this. Do I like this? Maybe I do. Actually, I do.’ That’s where the heel turn would have come. They were all for it, and then after the thing happened with Ilja [Dragunov] – It did really well on social media, there was a lot of buzz about it and Ilja did a great job – Shawn [Michaels] pulled me, and he said, ‘Look we’ve had word from top that it’s a little bit too close to the bone, so we’re going to have to call you off.’”

Elsewhere in the interview, Menzies said that he almost lost trust in his in-ring abilities after Big E’s injury. Fans can check his comments here.

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