8 Wrestlers Who NEED A Big Push After WWE Royal Rumble 2026

The US Championship scene on SmackDown has had a thrilling past few months. It has become the place to watch great, no frills, in-ring action in WWE, and Ilja Dragunov has played a massive part in making that the case. His raw physicality is breathtaking for a medium-sized wrestler, and he brought that brute strength to the Royal Rumble match in Riyadh.

The Mad Dragon’s “no fear” approach led to him trying to eliminate Cody Rhodes as soon as Ilja hit the ring. He received a surprisingly loud reaction to his entry at Number 17, too, which only goes to show that people are noticing his contributions to SmackDown’s rising midcard.

It was Dragunov’s last stand, laying in chop after chop to Brock Lesnar just minutes after Brock entered the ring, that stood out the most during Ilja's 11-minute Rumble cameo. The smart thing to do is to avoid one of the Royal Rumble’s most nihilistic competitors, but the Russian’s fearlessness is what makes him so right for a big push in 2026. He backs down from no fight, and that’s why it would be great for WWE to put him in the ring with the likes of Randy Orton, Jacob Fatu, and Drew McIntyre on SmackDown this year.