Ilja Dragunov is reportedly expected to join AEW following his departure from WWE, although no contract has been signed yet.
According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, AEW has been the expected destination for Dragunov for some time. Final administrative details are reportedly still being worked out, with Fightful stopping short of reporting that a contract has officially been signed.
Barring something unforeseen, however, Dragunov is said to be set to join the promotion.
The delay reportedly isn’t the result of stalled contract negotiations. Instead, immigration issues are said to be responsible for slowing the process.
Fightful reports that several international wrestlers who have departed WWE this year have encountered visa expirations or other immigration complications that have delayed their free agency. Dragunov is reportedly among those affected.
There is also some uncertainty surrounding the name he could use in AEW. Ilja is his real first name, while the status of the Dragunov name is less clear. However, he did wrestle as Ilja Dragunov before signing with WWE.
The latest report represents a significant development from what Fightful reported around the time of Dragunov’s WWE departure.
At that point, industry sources believed AEW was a likely destination, but the outlet characterized that expectation as more of a hunch than anything concrete. Sources within AEW had also not heard that a deal was in place.
The possibility of visa complications was already being discussed at the time. A European promoter also suggested Dragunov could potentially return to PROGRESS Wrestling, although no such move materialized.
Dragunov left WWE after his contract expired in August.
PWInsider reported his departure on August 20 after he was removed from WWE’s internal roster, with the company subsequently moving him to the alumni section of its website. Dragunov elected not to sign a new contract.
Dave Meltzer later reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Dragunov and WWE had been far apart financially. According to that report, WWE’s internal view was that Dragunov was an excellent in-ring performer but didn’t move enough business to justify the money he was seeking, contributing to the company no longer using him on television after April.
Because Dragunov’s WWE contract expired rather than being terminated early, he wasn’t subject to a 90-day non-compete period and has been free to sign elsewhere since his departure.
His final WWE television appearance came in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the April 17 episode of SmackDown, which was won by Royce Keys. Dragunov’s final singles match was a loss to Carmelo Hayes on March 30.
Dragunov had only returned the previous October after spending more than a year sidelined with a torn ACL suffered during a WWE live event. In his first match back, he answered Sami Zayn’s open challenge and captured the United States Championship.
His disappearance from WWE television between April and his August departure went unexplained. Fightful reported that several wrestlers, including people who had been training with Dragunov, reached out to him during the summer after noticing his absence but weren’t given details about his situation.
Dragunov originally signed with WWE in February 2019 and debuted for NXT UK that May. He went on to capture the NXT United Kingdom Championship and became particularly well known for his acclaimed rivalry with Gunther.
He moved to NXT in the United States in September 2022, captured the NXT Championship the following year and was drafted to Raw in 2024.
Before WWE, Dragunov established himself primarily through Germany’s wXw and the UK’s PROGRESS Wrestling. He appeared at a wXw event in Hamburg earlier this year, with sources from the promotion reportedly expressing surprise that his WWE run ultimately ended when it did.
AEW has not publicly commented on Dragunov, and neither side has announced an agreement.
For now, Fightful’s reporting indicates that AEW is the expected destination, with administrative and immigration matters seemingly standing between Dragunov and his next chapter.
