Update On Ilja Dragunov Being Pulled From WWE NXT New Year’s Evil

WWE

An update has been provided on NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov being pulled from his match with Trick Williams at WWE NXT New Year’s Evil.

On the December 19 edition of WWE NXT, Ilja Dragunov faced SmackDown star Ridge Holland in the main event. The bout ended prematurely when Dragunov suffered an injury and was stretchered out of the arena.

On the New Year’s Evil special of NXT, it was announced that Dragunov was not medically cleared and had to postpone his scheduled title defense against Trick Williams on the show.

Haus of Wrestling provided an update, noting that beyond his neck, Dragunov is “banged up from 2023” and is taking longer to heal his body than expected.

The report notes that the move to remove Dragunov from the January 2 episode was made sometime during this past weekend.

The time frame for Dragunov’s return was described as “uncertain” at the time of this writing.

Ilja Dragunov was replaced by SmackDown’s Grayson Waller who faced Trick Williams in the main event. Williams picked up the win thanks to Kevin Owens interfering.

WrestleTalk will provide further updates on Ilja Dragunov’s injury status when they become available.

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