A BRADFORD district-born star has continued his rise in wrestling after putting up a strong showing in one of the sport's biggest matches.

Luke Menzies, who wrestles under the character name Ridge Holland, was one of the 30 entrants in this year's men's World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE's) Royal Rumble match.

The Liversedge-born star entered Saturday's battle royal match as entrant number five and lasted for just over 19 minutes.

 

The match rules say that wrestlers enter the match traditionally either every two minutes or 90 seconds and can only be eliminated once they are thrown over the top rope of the ring and onto the arena floor. The match continues until one wrestler is crowned as the winner.

Former Bradford Bulls youngster Menzies was eventually eliminated from the match by former WWE champion AJ Styles. But this disappointment did not stop Menzies taking to social media afterwards to post a couple of match action shots of a move he did on Styles.

Ridge Holland posted: "Ridgeplex!"

 

Menzies performed in front of a crowd of 44,390 at The Dome at America's Center in St Louis, Missouri, USA at the Royal Rumble.

The men's Royal Rumble match was eventually won by Brock Lesnar, who now gets to face the champion of his choice at this year's WrestleMania held on Dallas, Texas, on April 2 and 3.

Menzies made a winning return to action after injury the night before the Royal Rumble in a tag team match on Friday Night Smackdown.

He and tag team partner Sheamus defeated Ricochet and Cesaro on the TV show.

It was Menzies' first match after he broke his nose against the same opponents in a tag team match in his WWE pay-per-view debut at the Day 1 event held on New Year's Day.

Since joining Friday Night Smackdown in October, Menzies has teamed up with fellow wrestler Sheamus on the show. He has also beaten fellow superstar Cesaro in a high-profile match shown on TV earlier this month.

Menzies wears a flat cap to the ring, calls himself the Bother Causer and uses Northern Grit as a hashtag on social media.

He was moved to WWE’s weekly Friday Night Smackdown programme as part of their draft last October.

Menzies had been making a name for himself on the WWE’s NXT show, but following a lengthy spell out injured this year is now making waves on Smackdown.

During his rugby league career, Menzies also played as a prop for clubs including Batley Bulldogs, Hunslet and Toronto Wolfpack between 2007 and 2017.