Ilja Dragunov apparently didn’t spend his final months in WWE simply waiting for his contract to run out. As recently as June, he and WWE were deep in negotiations to keep him around.
Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer revealed the detail after news broke that Dragunov had allowed his WWE contract to expire, admitting he isn’t sure what ultimately happened between the two sides.
“Not sure what ended up happening but Ilja and WWE were said to be strongly negotiating a return as recently as June.”
That makes Dragunov’s eventual exit a little more surprising. As reported earlier, WWE wanted Dragunov to remain with the company, but Dragunov ultimately opted to let his contract expire. If Alvarez’s information is accurate, the two sides weren’t just casually discussing his future either. They were still actively trying to work something out only a couple of months before everything fell apart.
What changed between June and August isn’t clear. By the time Dragunov’s deal expired, he had already been missing from WWE television for months. He last wrestled during WrestleMania weekend and then basically vanished. No injury announcement. No farewell angle. No television explanation. He was even spotted training at the Hart Dungeon while WWE continued leaving him on the sidelines.
Things weren’t sounding particularly promising behind the scenes either. It was recently reported that Dragunov’s name hadn’t been coming up much and that he wasn’t considered a priority. WWE’s increased reliance on analytics was discussed as one possible factor, while his limited merchandise presence wasn’t exactly giving the company much data to work with.
Then the end came quickly. Dragunov’s contract expired, WWE moved him straight into the Alumni section of its website, and it was reported that WWE actually would have liked him to stay. Dragunov was apparently the one who decided to move on.
Now Alvarez’s update fills in another piece of that story. WWE and Dragunov were still strongly negotiating a new deal in June. Two months later, he was gone. Whatever happened in between was apparently enough to change the entire direction of those talks.
What do you think happened between Dragunov and WWE after their reported negotiations in June? Let us know in the comments below.
