Ilja Dragunov Has Reportedly Signed With AEW, Believed To Be Starting Very Soon

Ilja Dragunov may be debuting for AEW soon.

Many were surprised when Ilja Dragunov suddenly left WWE in July, though it didn’t take long for him to be linked elsewhere. Naturally, the immediate front runner in many people’s minds was AEW, with some even thinking he could debut at last month’s All In: London. While that didn’t happen, rumours of Dragunov to AEW began to pick up steam this week, and it now seems as if he’s signed to the company.

According to Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it’s believed Ilja Dragunov is now officially signed with All Elite Wrestling.

“As has been expected, Ilja Dragunov (Ilja Rukober), has signed (with AEW) and should be starting very soon. This was pretty apparent in August the way Tony Khan was talking about him but as he noted with the New Level, these deals often take weeks to finalize.”

-Ilja Dragunov

While Tony Khan was asked a lot about Ilja after his release, and he had to play coy about whether he’d be coming to the company. Part of the reason for this may have been visa issues, as recent reports have indicated that a lot of international talent had their visas come up recently, possibly delaying Ilja’s debut. You can read more about that here.

There was a notion for a brief time that he could’ve debuted in an open challenge during All Out, specifically against Tommaso Ciampa, but that door has been shut, as “The Psycho Killer” will be facing Okada for the International Title. You can read what Ciampa had to say about his upcoming match here.

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