Ilja Dragunov says leaving WWE wasn’t something he had already decided months before his contract expired. In fact, when he wrestled his final WWE match in April, Dragunov says he had absolutely no idea that it would end up being the last time fans saw him compete for the company.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Dragunov was asked whether he already knew his WWE run was coming to an end when he competed in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal ahead of WrestleMania 42. According to Dragunov, that wasn’t the case at all.
“No, absolutely not. Everything that I can talk about — that is not exciting. I didn’t know at the time that I was leaving. I was just waiting.”
Dragunov wasn’t sitting at home with one foot already out the door either. He still wanted to wrestle and compete, but things simply reached a point where his WWE career wasn’t moving forward.
“Again, I love what I do. I wanna compete and work and do this and that, and it just got a little stuck. But it’s nothing new to anybody. It was obvious. Time just passed by, and then I reached the expiration of my contract.”
By the time his contract expired in August, however, Dragunov’s feelings had changed. As the months passed and he looked at where his career was heading, he began realizing that a change might be exactly what he needed.
“And like I already said after the show at the press conference at WrestleDream, I felt over time that, with how things are working out and how I’m feeling — because I make a lot of things depending on how I feel about it, always have the courage to do — I felt it was time to breathe some new, fresh air.”
Helwani then asked the obvious question: did WWE actually try to keep him? Dragunov confirmed that the company had no intention of simply letting him walk away.
“Did they try to re-sign me? I mean, a lot of things were written over the internet. Yeah, there was no intention of the company to let me go.”
That makes his departure a little more interesting than simply reaching the end of a contract and being allowed to leave. Dragunov said there were several things he had to weigh, including the offers on the table and what he wanted creatively.
“It was an accumulation of a lot of things. It was an accumulation of the offers, because we know it’s a business, but it was also based on my feeling — how do I want to work creatively? Do I need a scenery change? Where can I see myself staying forever?”
Dragunov also had to consider just how much of his adult life he’d already spent under the WWE umbrella. After joining WWE in his 20s and remaining there for years, he started wondering whether staying in the same place was really what he wanted for the next stage of his career.
“Because you gotta consider a lot of factors. I spent most of my 20s in WWE. That’s a long time.”
That’s where AEW and the opportunity to experience something completely different entered the picture. Dragunov didn’t frame his WWE departure as some ugly breakup, but rather as a chance to find out whether another environment might fit him better.
“The beautiful thing is we have a lot of opportunities, and for me personally, after being so long with another company, to not seek out new opportunities — maybe even a place where I see myself more fitting — who wouldn’t do that?”
Dragunov previously explained after WrestleDream that he felt increasingly “stuck” and needed somewhere he could breathe “new, fresh air.” His latest comments add an important piece to that story, because WWE apparently wasn’t looking to lose him — Dragunov ultimately decided that exploring something new made more sense for him.
So that April battle royal wasn’t Dragunov secretly saying goodbye to WWE, because he didn’t even know it was goodbye yet. His decision came together over the months that followed as his contract ran down, with creative fulfillment, business and the desire for a completely new environment all pushing him toward his eventual AEW move.
What do you think about Ilja Dragunov revealing that WWE wanted to keep him, but he ultimately decided it was time to explore a new opportunity? Let us know in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
