Brock Lesnar survived for a little under five minutes in this year’s Royal Rumble match in Saudi Arabia. The list of Brock’s elimination victims in the match included Oba Femi, Ilja Dragunov, and Rey Fenix.
Dragunov’s elimination was memorable because it involved The Beast no-selling a series of chops, screaming in his face like a maniac, and then tossing him over the top rope with ease. Some of Ilja’s fans were upset and thought this was bad booking for the Mad Dragon. In an interview with Adrian
Hernandez, Dragunov explained why that’s not the case at all.
“Guys, please. I was toe-to-toe in front of Brock Lesnar. How many people in this lifetime can do this? Brock Lesnar has been so influential, and so significant for the entire history of this company. Having the chance to just have this moment that was perfectly expressing who I am, is just stunning. Because of course I’m the guy who steps up to the biggest beast that you can possibly imagine, and I don’t hold back.
Of course you’re gonna lose fights in your life. But the person that Ilja Dragunov is, is I’m gonna step up, I’m gonna face my fear, I’m not gonna hold back. And if I need to suffer the punishment from that, I gladly will do so. And some people will not understand that, and say, oh he got just ragdolled out of it, but I take it as a medal towards myself that I brought the best fight that I could bring to the absolute beast.”
Dragunov’s logic makes sense sense to me, but I was never in the camp that thought Brock disrespected him on that spot. If you are someone who was bothered by Dragunov’s Royal Rumble elimination, does his explanation for why it perfectly encapsulates his character change your mind? Let me know in the comments below, Cagesiders.
