Latest on Ilja Dragunov After Injury Scare at WWE NXT Tapings

Dragunov is in his first reign as WWE NXT Champion and won the title from Carmelo Hayes at WWE NXT No Mercy in September. Since then, Dragunov has retained against Hayes, \’Dirty\’ Dominik Mysterio, and Baron Corbin. He is also a former WWE NXT UK Champion. 

With next week being so close to Christmas, the December 19, episode was filmed this week to give the roster and crew time off to be with their families. It has been reported that Dragunov worked against Ridge Holland for the taping and in photos that emerged online, it appeared the NXT Champion was seriously injured. 

This injury couldn\’t come at a worse time for the Mad Dragon, who is set to defend the NXT Championship against Trick Williams at New Year\’s Evil. Dragunov was also caught up in the storyline with Carmelo Hayes and Lexis King this week, as to who attacked Williams weeks ago. Hayes accused Dragunov of attacking Trick and himself on this week\’s show. 

While the images of Dragunov look bad, there is some good news about this matter. In an update, it has been reported that this is part of a storyline. WWE are seemingly playing into the notion that Holland is dangerous in the ring, which some have accused him of ever since the unfortunate Big E incident in March of last year. Big E has said he holds no ill-will to Holland over what happened, as he knows that accidents happen. Some have been far less positive and Holland received death threats on the anniversary of Big E suffering a broken neck.