After months of speculation, rumors and reporting, a big new story in the world of WWE has finally come to fruition and that is that former WWE United States Champion Ilja Dragunov’s contract with WWE has expired and he is now a free agent.
According to PWInsider, Dragunov is leaving the WWE after his contract expired. Dragunov has been training since his last appearance in April even though he wasn’t being used.
Dragunov was in the WWE since 2019. He was a centerpiece for the NXT UK brand. He won the United Kingdom Championship and had one of the best matches in the last decade for the WWE in 2020 against Gunther in front of no crowd. Eventually NXT UK ended and he was moved to NXT in Orlando. In that run, he won the NXT Championship and main evented many premium live events for NXT.
Dragunov made his main roster debut the Raw after WrestleMania 40 back in 2024 and was officially called up during the WWE Draft later that year. Very early in his main roster run, he tore his ACL on a live event and missed a year of action. Dragunov made his return on October of 2025 as an opponent in the Sami Zayn open challenge match for the United States Title and won the title. The Mad Dragon had a two month reign before losing the title in December to Carmelo Hayes.
Dragunov has had nothing much to do in 2026. He was eliminated in the Royal Rumble by Brock Lesnar and lost in a U.S. Title match to Carmelo Hayes. His last match with the WWE was in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal back in April.
