Ilja Dragunov looks like he is heading to AEW, though nothing is signed yet.
Sean Ross Sapp reports on Fightful Select that the plan as of now is for Dragunov to land in AEW, and that it has been the plan for some time with final details still being worked through. The outlet has not confirmed he has put pen to paper, but says he is set to join barring unforeseen circumstances.
The holdup is paperwork rather than interest. Fightful Select was told that a number of recent WWE departures from outside the United States have been dealing with visa expirations or visa hurdles that slowed their free agency, and that Dragunov was among them.
He can keep using Ilja, which is his given name, having been born Ilia Rukober. The outlet is unsure about Dragunov, which he used before signing with WWE.
Fightful Select was more cautious three weeks ago, reporting then that expectations of an AEW move were a prediction rather than anything concrete, and that AEW sources had not heard he was headed there.
The WWE exit came down to money. Dragunov let his contract expire in August after seven years, and Dave Meltzer reported the two sides were far enough apart on pay that WWE decided in April to stop using him altogether. People inside the company rated him highly as a worker without seeing him as a draw. WWE would have kept him.
The last year was stop-start. He wrecked his knee in a live event match with Gunther and missed more than a year, returned in October 2025 and beat Sami Zayn for the United States Championship in his first match back, then lost it to Carmelo Hayes in December. His final singles match was another loss to Hayes on March 30, and his last television appearance was the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on April 17, won by Royce Keys.
Fightful Select broke this story. Read the full report and support their work here.
