Ilja Dragunov looks like he’s done shopping around — because AEW is apparently about to become home for one of wrestling’s nastiest free agents. The former WWE star hasn’t signed on the dotted line just yet, but the plan has been sitting there for a while and now the final pieces are getting put together.
Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp says Dragunov is set to land in All Elite Wrestling barring something going sideways at the last minute. The deal isn’t being presented as finished yet, but this isn’t AEW casually kicking the tires either. It was made it clear where things currently stand.
“We have not confirmed that Ilja has put pen to paper, but he is set to join AEW barring unforeseen circumstances.”
That makes this a whole lot more serious than the speculation floating around after Dragunov first hit the market. Ringside News previously covered how Dragunov chose to leave WWE after the two sides couldn’t reach terms on a new agreement, with AEW already expected to come calling. At that point, there was even talk about whether AEW could get something done quickly enough to put him on All In. That didn’t happen, but apparently AEW never went away.
Dragunov’s free agency also had another headache attached to it. It’s being said that several recent WWE departures who weren’t from the United States were dealing with visa expirations or other visa hurdles that slowed down what they could do next, and Dragunov was among the names caught up in that mess. So this wasn’t necessarily as simple as Tony Khan picking up the phone, throwing out a number and having Dragunov show up on Dynamite the next Wednesday.
The bigger picture started coming together weeks ago. Ringside News confirmed in August that Dragunov was finished with WWE after his contract expired, putting an end to months of questions about why WWE had basically made him disappear.
Before his exit, Dragunov had barely been used on television in 2026. He last appeared on WWE TV in April during a battle royal and then vanished from programming, despite remaining active behind the scenes. Ringside News had previously covered how Dragunov was training at the Hart Dungeon during his WWE absence, making it pretty clear he wasn’t just sitting on the couch waiting for the phone to ring.
Now that phone appears to be ringing from Jacksonville. There could also be one small name issue to sort out once Dragunov arrives. Ilja isn’t going anywhere because that’s his actual first name, while the status of “Dragunov” is less clear. He used the name before WWE, so don’t be surprised if AEW figures out a way to keep the package fans already know.
Either way, AEW looks like it’s about to get one hell of an angry Russian-German wrecking ball dropped into its locker room. Dragunov spent months sitting on the sidelines in WWE, walked when his deal ran out, and now Tony Khan could be getting the guy WWE barely bothered to use this year.
Where do you want to see Ilja Dragunov land on the AEW card first, and who should be standing across the ring from him when he debuts? Let us know what you think in the comments.
