Ilja Dragunov Discusses WWE Departure And How Quickly AEW Debut Came Together

Ilja Dragunov is ready to conduct symphonies in AEW and doesn’t want to wait anymore.

At AEW’s latest pay-per-view, WrestleDream, Ilja Dragunov made his much-anticipated debut. Between his Red Alert 3 entrance music and the passion with which he carried himself, fans were left eager to see him in the ring, and, in the post-show media scrum, he expressed how excited he was to wrestle AEW’s best talent. Now, he’s opened up further around his WWE exit and signing with AEW.

In a chat with Ariel Helwani, he discussed his final days in WWE, including how he didn’t know the Andre the Giant Battle Royale match would be his last.

“I didn’t know at that time I was leaving. I was just waiting. I love what I do. I want to compete, I want to work, I want to do this and that. And it just got a little stuck, but it’s nothing new to anybody. It was pretty obvious. Time just passed by, then I reached the expiration of my contract. Like I already said after the show at the press conference at WrestleDream, I felt over time with how everything is working out, and how I’m feeling because I make a lot of things depending of how I feel about it. I’ve always had the courage to do so. I feel it is time to breathe some new, fresh air.”

-Ilja Dragunov

Moving to All Elite Wrestling, he elaborated further on how he got the notice that he could pick up his visa to travel back to the United States, and that he didn’t want to wait anymore to debut and get back into a wrestling ring.

“I was looking through my emails beforehand and I realized today is actually the day I can pick up my passport. I immediately thought, ‘Okay, if I can pick up my passport today, I can be back in the states today.’ So I reached out to the company [AEW]. Everything went extremely quick. Everything got booked, and within seven hours, I was on my flight back to the states. And that’s the perfect way for me because I didn’t want to wait another single second anymore.”

-Ilja Dragunov

At present, we do not know who Ilja will face when he makes his AEW Dynamite debut tomorrow night, though it’s fair to say anticipation is high for his first match in the company. Plus, having been benched by WWE after a contract dispute in April, this will be Dragunov’s first outing in any capacity in around six months.

Following Ilja’s arrival, Tony Khan noted his arrival the company was delayed the process of getting a new visa. Similarly, it seems RUSH will be away from our screens for a little while more thanks to visa issues, while his brother, Dralistico, is just a couple of months away from his contract expiring. You can read the latest update on their respective status’ here.

As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Ilja Dragunov as soon as we hear more.

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