Published: 3 hours ago by Connel Rumsey | Last Updated: 3 hours ago by Connel Rumsey
Connel has over five years of wrestling journalism experience writing about some of the biggest stories from across the wrestling world. Being a fan for 20 years, Connel has an expansive knowledge from a wide range of various wrestling promotions, including WWE, AEW, NJPW, TNA and Joshi.@connel1405
WWE
Back in August, it was confirmed that former United States Champion Ilja Dragunov had departed WWE at the expiration of his contract.
Since his departure, many fans had expected that Ilja would eventually land in All Elite Wrestling, with Fightful Select recently reporting that is expected to be the case.
It’s hard to argue that Ilja never got the chance to reach his full potential on the WWE main roster, but will that also be the case for his time in AEW?
The wasted potential of Ilja Dragunov in WWE
After spending over a year out of action with a torn ACL in 2024, Ilja returned to WWE television in October 2025, defeating Sami Zayn in his first match back to capture the United States Championship.
The moment seemed to be the beginning of Ilja’s main roster run, with his reign featuring a number of incredible matches against names like Carmelo Hayes, Tommaso Ciampa and Sami Zayn.
However, after losing the United States Championship to Carmelo Hayes, Ilja barely appeared on television again, his last match coming as part of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal earlier this year.
Ilja left WWE having barely even scratched the surface of what he was capable of, with WWE not even getting around to running Ilja vs. Gunther on the main roster.
Dream matches galore await in AEW
Ilja Dragunov exited WWE at the end of his contract in August 2026.
Over the years, WWE stars have joined AEW to varying degrees of success.
While names like Toni Storm, Swerve Strickland and Andrade El Idolo have undoubtedly seen their stock rise after joining the company, there are other names who have found themselves in a similar spot in AEW compared to WWE.
However, while the spot on the roster may be the same, the difference is AEW being a lot more open to giving time in the ring to it’s midcarders, to the point where the strengths of those names are still spotlighted better in AEW compared to WWE.
For Ilja, he definitely has the ability and potential to work his way up to the top of the AEW roster, eventually locking up with names like Jon Moxley, Adam Page and Kyle Fletcher.
AEW World Champion Will Ospreay recently announced that he was looking to create an AEW version of the United Empire, which would be the perfect spot to introduce Ilja into the company.
To make sure you stay up to date with all the biggest wrestling and WrestleTalk news, follow us on Threads by clicking this link!
Trending
- WWE seemingly confirms the in-ring retirements of both Bobby Roode & Titus O’Neil
- WWE NXT injury: Dorian Van Dux punctured lung hopefully won’t affect the Belgian’s impressive rise up the ranks
- Oba Femi calls out Bronson Reed following controversial WWE Raw moment: ‘You step on my face, f**k you’
mailing list