Big E Defends Ridge Holland Over Broken Neck Incident: ‘A Lot of People Crossed the Line and Went Too Far’

Big E has spoken candidly about the March 2022 SmackDown match that ended his in-ring career, offering a detailed account of how the injury happened and defending Ridge Holland against the wave of fan hostility that followed.

Speaking on the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, E walked through the sequence of events that led to the fateful moment. He and Kofi Kingston were facing Sheamus and Ridge Holland, with Xavier Woods sidelined by a nagging injury. With the planned finish centering on Kofi and Sheamus, E said he and Holland needed to find a way to keep both of them out of the action at the end. Given his size and former world champion status, E felt a simple superkick wouldn’t be convincing enough to keep him down — he needed something bigger.

The original plan involved E missing a suicide spear, with Holland then hitting an overhead belly-to-belly suplex on the floor. E noted he had taken overhead suplexes before, including from Ryback, without issue. But after missing the spear and landing awkwardly — unable to use the apron to soften the fall as he normally would — things went wrong quickly. “I could tell I don’t have enough clearance, but when you’re launched, there’s not a whole lot you can do,” E said, adding that it happened too fast to react or post a hand down.

E was clear that he bore no ill will toward Holland, and expressed genuine sympathy for what Holland endured in the aftermath. Holland received threats and significant online abuse from fans, which E said he understood on one level — people were upset on his behalf — but ultimately condemned. “I know what I signed up for. I know things go awry. It was never malicious. It was never intentional,” he said. Holland also checked in with E regularly after the incident and sent him a ten-pound box of meat as an apology, which E found its way to a friend since E wasn’t eating much red meat at the time.

E acknowledged the incident effectively derailed Holland’s WWE run, and the two briefly crossed paths at WrestleMania weekend in Las Vegas earlier this year. Holland has since been released by WWE, has dealt with injuries of his own, and is now cleared to compete on the independent scene under his real name, Luke Menzies.

“I really hate that his tenure in WWE, for the most part, a lot of it’s going to be defined by the injury and his role in it,” E said. “I truly hope he’s in a better place. I hope that’s all come to an end, because a lot of people crossed the line and went too far.”

As for E himself, he remains with WWE in a broadcasting capacity and has recently confirmed his retirement from in-ring competition.