Published: 4 seconds ago by Connel Rumsey | Last Updated: 4 seconds 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
AEW
Former WWE star Ilja Dragunov debuted for AEW at tonight’s WrestleDream event after recent teases for his arrival.
Back in August, it was confirmed that former United States Champion Ilja Dragunov had left WWE after four months off television.
Dragunov left the company at the end of his contract, with him immediately becoming a free agent, with speculation ramping up that he would join AEW.
After weeks of speculation, a vignette aired on this week’s AEW Dynamite show teasing the arrival of Ilja, with a second being posted on social media last night, specifically teasing his arrival at WrestleDream.
Ilja Dragunov debuts at AEW WrestleDream
During tonight’s show, Renee Paquette came out on stage to introduce the newest member of the AEW roster.
This led to a metronome appearing on the stage, with Dragunov making his first AEW entrance, officially becoming All Elite.
Tony Khan wasted no time in confirming his signing, sharing on social media that Dragunov was All Elite.
He wrote:
He has arrived in AEW tonight at #AEWWrestleDream, and now it’s official: @UNBESIEGBAR_ZAR is All Elite!
Who will Ilja Dragunov face first in AEW?
With Ilja getting a major entrance roll out on the pay-per-view event, we must wait to see who his first match in AEW will be against.
Various names have already taken interest in facing off against Dragunov, most notably Kyle Fletcher, who had previously faced off with Dragunov multiple times on the independent scene.
Another potential first opponent for Dragunov in AEW is Tommaso Ciampa, with the two of them having a United States Championship match in December 2025 on SmackDown, which was Ciampa’s last match in WWE before he left to join AEW.
Dragunov would also make for an obvious choice to join Will Ospreay in AEW’s United Empire faction, though after how well received his debut segment was on tonight’s show, immediately putting him in a faction would probably not be the best move.
A Continental Classic run for the ages
We are just over a month away from the start of AEW’s Continental Classic Tournament, where 12 of AEW’s very best battle it out to win the tournament and the Continental Championship.
Dragunov is a wrestler who is ready made for that style of tournament, where he will likely be one of this year’s MVPs.
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