Ilja Dragunov Gone From WWE After Contract Expires

Ilja Dragunov is gone from WWE, with his profile having already been moved to the alumni section of the WWE roster page. PWInsider reported today that Dragunov's contract with the company had expired and he was removed from the internal WWE roster this week.

False Finish noted that WWE would have liked to retain Dragunov but the 32-year-old decided to allow his contract to run out.

Dragunov had been off WWE TV since the SmackDown before WrestleMania 42 on April 17 when he competed in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. There was no word at the time on why Dragunov was not being used by WWE, although he continued to train at the Hart Dungeon with his partner Leigh Laurel, and they also recently went on holiday to Budapest.

Dragunov joined WWE in 2019 as part of the NXT UK brand, having been a featured performer on the European independent wrestling scene for the likes of wXw and PROGRESS Wrestling. The Russian-German wrestler quickly became a top star in NXT UK with high-profile matches over the NXT United Kingdom Championship with Gunther (then-named WALTER), a belt Dragunov would eventually win in August of 2021 at NXT TakeOver 36.

Dragunov would reign as NXT UK Champion for 346 days until he vacated the title due to injury. After the shuttering of NXT UK in August of 2022, Dragunov moved to NXT proper and became a top star there too, holding the NXT Championship from September 2023 until April 2024 in a 206-day reign.

Dragunov moved to the main roster following WrestleMania 40 but he spent one year out of action after suffering a torn ACL while facing Gunther at a WWE house show in September 2024. He won the United States Championship from Sami Zayn upon his return in October 2025 and held the belt for 63 days until dropping the gold to Carmelo Hayes in December of last year.

Prior to his extended absence from WWE TV, Dragunov had remained involved in the United States Title picture in 2026, twice unsuccessfully challenging Carmelo Hayes for the belt on SmackDown.