- WWE.com have moved Ilja Dragunov to it’s Alumni section.
- Credit: EWrestlingnews.com
- Ilja Dragunov’s time in WWE has come to an end. His contract has expired, and he is now leaving the company for good.Dragunov last stepped into the ring during WrestleMania 42 weekend, and after that, he simply vanished from WWE television.
Pwinsider is reporting that Dragunov’s WWE deal has officially run out, which finally answers the question that fans had been asking for months.
What makes this even more surprising is that Dragunov was never listed as injured or released, so his sudden disappearance felt strange to a lot of people.
At the same time, WrestleVotes reported that Dragunov’s name had not come up backstage in weeks, pointing to WWE’s growing use of analytics to decide who gets TV time. Moreover, Dragunov’s merchandise sales were weak, which likely hurt his chances of being pushed further.
Even during his time off screen, Dragunov kept training publicly at the Hart Dungeon, showing that he never stopped preparing for his next chance.
Now that his WWE run is officially over, it remains to be seen where the former NXT world Champion will show up next.
Meanwhile, WWE did not waste any time making things official either. Dragunov’s profile has quietly been moved over to the Alumni section on WWE’s own website, even though he never got a farewell match or a proper television send-off.
