Tony Khan opened the post-WrestleDream media scrum in the early hours of Sun., Oct. 18 by introducing his latest free agent acquisition, former WWE NXT and United States champion Ilja Dragunov.
During it, Khan echoed the thoughts of many on the wrestle web, saying Dragunov and his company are a great fit:
“AEW is where the best wrestle, in my opinion, and the man who is about to join us on this stage embodies that. It’s somebody I think fits in what we do here — professional wrestling in AEW — somebody who fits here like
a glove.”
Wearing the same handsomely tailored suit he had on for his introduction to the Addition Financial Arena crowd in Orlando, Florida Saturday night, the Russian-born Dragunov shook his new boss’ hand and took a seat. Renee Paquette guided the conversation from there, during which Khan revealed that he just found out a few days ago that Ilja could debut at WrestleDream:
“It can be an unpredictable process of acquiring a visa.. some people asked about the timing of the vignette that suggested your arrival at WrestleDream on [Dynamite] Wednesday, and then having a second vignette on Friday. There is a lot of unpredictability in wrestling and a beautiful thing that happened for us is, on Wednesday night, in the middle of the show, at two in the morning your time, we got the message that Ilja was going to be able to pick up the visa the next day. We found that out during the live broadcast.
“We filmed the vignette just in case you weren’t going to be able to come to the PPV, we would start the build for when you were here. Maybe it was going to take another week or two, but it happened ahead of schedule, thankfully.”
Reports said the 33-year-old had been negotiating a new contract with WWE before deciding to leave when his last deal ended in August. Asked about his decision to leave and sign with AEW at the scrum, Dragunov didn’t blame his old company, but did seem to confirm he was frustrated with his trajectory there. His last match was the Andre the Giant Battle Royal in April, one of only four he had after Royal Rumble in early February.
“My decisions and factors? I’ve been doing this for almost 14 years, and I’ve been through a lot of phases when it comes down to my indie career and pro wrestling career in general. I’ve traveled to places and been under contract. I’ve never had the chance where I didn’t feel like I can’t bet on myself. If I feel that this chance is limited, then it gets more limited.
“Then, I feel like I’m getting stuck somewhere. Not because of external factors, just feeling stuck in general, because I have this urge to fight. I love to fight, and I want to compete, and I want to step up. If I feel that the air in a certain environment gets thinner for me, I need to breathe. That’s what I did today, here. If I need a place to breathe new, fresh air, see a new landscape, and see what the world can offer me to satisfy this hunger for competition— that’s the easiest answer I can give to that question.”
AEW’s head honcho also revealed that his newest signee won’t have to wait long for a taste of the air in his new environment… Dragunov’s in-ring debut is on Dynamite this upcoming Wednesday (Oct. 21), live from the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Florida.
As for who he might face, the Mad Dragon isn’t picky. After earlier agreeing with Khan’s early statement…
“It’s a landscape of limitless opportunities that I see in front of my eyes because if we say that AEW is where the best wrestle, how couldn’t I belong here?”
Dragunov answered the question about who he want to face on the AEW roster with:
“That is a great question. A better question is, who not? For real, if I think about all the competitors here at AEW, it is hard to say who I do not want to wrestle. Because it starts with a Moxley, it goes on with a Joe, it goes on with a Fletcher — so many amazing competitors in that ring. And since I’m here and I felt this, I went through this… presentation in front of all of you, I feel like I’m starving. I’m starving for competition, and I know that whoever I will step up against has a serious problem because I am here.
”Now I am here, and this is gonna be a serious problem for so many people.”
Is it Wednesday yet?
Let us know how you’re feeling about Ilja Dragunov’s AEW arrival in the comments below.
