Ilja Dragunov is All Elite, and he should be on TV shortly. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that the deal is done.
As has been expected, Ilja Dragunov (Ilja Rukober), has signed (with AEW) and should be starting very soon.
Meltzer says the signs were there weeks ago.
This was pretty apparent in August the way Tony Khan was talking about him but as he noted with the New Level, these deals often take weeks to finalize.
Khan was asked about Dragunov by talkSPORT ahead of All In: London in late August. He said he could not speak to anyone’s contract status, then called Dragunov a great wrestler and an excellent athlete he respects eminently.
Dragunov left WWE when his contract expired in August. The split was his call, with the two sides unable to agree on money. He spent seven years there, starting in NXT UK, and held the NXT UK Championship, the NXT Championship, and the WWE United States Championship. His last WWE match was the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the April 17 SmackDown, the go-home show before WrestleMania 42, leaving him off television for four months before his exit.
One detail is still unresolved. Fightful previously reported he can keep using “Ilja,” but whether he gets “Dragunov” back remains unsettled. Fightful also reported that the holdup in finalizing the deal was not stalled negotiations but visa hurdles, which have affected several international wrestlers who left WWE this year.
He joins a growing list of recent WWE arrivals in AEW, including The New Level and the Motor City Machine Guns.
