Ilja Dragunov is on the open market, and speculation about an AEW move has been rampant. His WWE contract expired on August 20, with Dragunov opting not to re-sign and already appearing in the Alumni section of the company’s official website.
Because of how the separation played out, Dragunov became an immediate free agent. He can sign and appear with another promotion without any waiting period, bypassing the traditional 90-day non-compete clause.
No deal with AEW has been announced as of this writing. However, sources within the company believe that could be the former WWE star’s next destination. Tony Khan stopped short of confirming any negotiations, only calling Dragunov a great wrestler during the ROH Death Before Dishonor media scrum.
With that in mind, the list below operates on the assumption that Dragunov ends up in AEW. Should that path materialize, WWE will have five major reasons to regret not getting a new deal done.
Few wrestlers share as deep a history with Gunther as Ilja Dragunov. Their story began long before WWE, when both were top names in wXw in Germany.
In March 2017, Dragunov defeated WALTER in the 16 Carat Gold tournament final in front of 850 fans at a sold-out Turbinenhalle in Oberhausen. Four years later at NXT TakeOver 36, he topped the Austrian again, this time by submission, ending Gunther’s historic 870-day reign as NXT UK Champion.
Between those two victories, WALTER defeated Dragunov in a title match in 2020. WWE wove the loss into the character’s emotional downfall and built toward a rematch over the course of nearly a year. Their history proved they could sustain a long-term rivalry on minimal interaction, delivering intense matches and connected chapters stretching back to the European circuit.
