Ilja Dragunov Officially Leaves WWE, Becomes Free Agent (WWE News)
Ex-NXT and United States Champion departs WWE. Dragunov's contract has expired.
PWInsider is reporting that workhorse star Ilja Dragunov has departed WWE. The market leader let his contract tick down, and he had been formally removed from the internal rosters this week ahead of release.
Dragunov joined the company in 2019 and instantly became a standout on the old NXT UK brand. He won the NXT UK Title, then made a splash on the core NXT brand by bagging the top belt there too. Eventually, Ilja was called up to the main crew in 2024 as part of the Raw roster, but an ACL tear that September brought any momentum he'd been building to a screeching halt.
A long and arduous recovery process followed, then Dragunov returned via SmackDown in October 2025 and defeated Sami Zayn to become the brand new United States Champ. The Russian worker held that strap until December when he dropped it to Carmelo Hayes, but he had continued Sami's 'Open Challenge' gimmick on Friday nights before being ousted.
Somewhat bizarrely, WWE bosses then completely lost interest in using Ilja or pushing him as an ongoing concern. He was swatted away like a fly by Brock Lesnar during the 30-man Royal Rumble match earlier this year, and he hadn't been seen on television since appearing as part of 2026's Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal in April.
Now, it's been confirmed that he's no longer with the promotion. At 32, Dragunov still has a bright future ahead of him. It remains to be seen what he'll do next, but the guy probably won't be short of offers.