AJ Styles works for WWE, but even he apparently has no idea what happened with Ilja Dragunov. Styles admitted that Dragunov’s departure caught him off guard, and losing someone whose work he enjoyed left him disappointed.
While speaking on The AJ Styles Show, the Phenomenal One was asked directly about Dragunov’s WWE departure. His answer was pretty simple: despite being inside the company, nobody had filled him in.
“I don’t know anything about it. I know that I’m very sad about this situation. He’s such—I enjoy his work very much. So I don’t know what’s going on.”
Styles acknowledged how strange that might sound coming from somebody who still works for WWE. These days, however, he said his role is much more focused on coaching, working with talent and helping WWE’s younger wrestlers rather than being involved in contracts or personnel decisions.
“I can’t say much about it because, again, you’d think I’d know. I work for the company, but my place is in the coaching and the talent and little things to hopefully help make WWE better and build that foundation with the younger talent and stuff like that.”
So when Dragunov’s WWE run suddenly ended, Styles was apparently just as surprised as everyone watching from the outside: “So, I don’t know what was going on. I just know, holy crap. That’s about all I know.”
Styles wasn’t interested in filling those blanks with his own theories either. He knows there will be speculation about why Dragunov left, but believes the actual story needs to come from Dragunov whenever he’s ready to tell it.
“We’re going to have to wait and see what he says about the situation when he’s able to talk about it. And then we’ll all know the truth because we can speculate everything at what this is. The truth is, we don’t know. I’ll be the first one to tell you I thought the guy was awesome.”
There are already some reported answers to the questions Styles couldn’t answer himself. According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dragunov wasn’t injured during his lengthy absence from television. Instead,
WWE and Dragunov were negotiating another contract after he had already been working under what was described as a “very good” deal. Those negotiations apparently became the turning point. The two sides were far enough apart that WWE made the decision all the way back in April to stop using the Mad Dragon.
“Essentially, he signed what was termed a very good contract and it was coming due. In talks over a new deal, the sides were far enough apart that the decision was made in April not to use him anymore.”
Money also appears to have played a major role. Meltzer reported that WWE recognized Dragunov as a great worker but didn’t consider him enough of a “numbers mover” for the level of money involved.
“It was essentially conceded he was a great worker but not a numbers mover and evidently for the level of money he was asking and getting, you needed to be a numbers mover.”
That explains why Dragunov vanished after WrestleMania weekend without an injury announcement, farewell angle or explanation on television. By April, WWE had apparently already made the call not to use him, and his contract simply ran down until August 20.
Styles may not know what happened in those negotiations, but his reaction says plenty about how highly he regarded Dragunov. WWE’s contract talks didn’t produce another deal, Dragunov spent his final months sitting at home, and now one of the company’s most accomplished veterans is openly saying he hated seeing him go.
What do you think of AJ Styles’ reaction to Ilja Dragunov leaving WWE? Let us know in the comments.
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