Ilja Dragunov leaves WWE after his contract with the company expired, bringing an unexpectedly quiet end to a seven-year run that included championships across NXT UK, NXT and the main roster — but also a final stretch defined more by what WWE did not do with him than what it did.
Mike Johnson of PWInsider first reported Thursday that Dragunov is exiting WWE after his deal expired and that he was removed from the company’s internal roster this week. Dragunov is also now listed in the Alumni section of WWE’s website.
The exact date his contract expired has not been publicly disclosed, nor have details emerged regarding whether WWE attempted to sign Dragunov to another deal or why the two sides ultimately did not continue together. Until Dragunov addresses his departure himself, anything beyond the confirmed expiration of his contract should be treated as speculation.
What is much easier to evaluate is how WWE arrived here.
Ilja Dragunov Leaves WWE After Seven Years
Dragunov signed with WWE in 2019 and quickly became one of the defining wrestlers of NXT UK, eventually producing an extraordinary rivalry with WALTER, now Gunther.
That program became the foundation of Dragunov’s WWE career.
At NXT TakeOver 36 in August 2021, Dragunov finally defeated WALTER by submission to end his historic 870-day NXT UK Championship reign. It remains one of the most important victories of Dragunov’s career and one of the strongest examples of what made him different. He did not need to be the biggest wrestler in the ring because very few wrestlers could match the desperation, violence and intensity he brought to it.
After NXT UK closed, Dragunov moved to NXT in the United States and eventually defeated Carmelo Hayes at No Mercy in September 2023 to become NXT Champion. He held the championship until April 2024, when Trick Williams defeated him at Spring Breakin’.
Dragunov had done exactly what a top NXT wrestler is supposed to do. He became champion, established himself as one of the brand’s measuring sticks and helped elevate the people WWE wanted positioned for the future.
His main-roster run never developed with the same consistency.
A Main-Roster Run Interrupted at the Worst Possible Time
Dragunov moved to Monday Night RAW in the 2024 WWE Draft and immediately found himself working with wrestlers including Jey Uso, Bron Breakker, Ricochet and Sami Zayn.
There were obvious possibilities.
A full main-roster continuation of Dragunov’s history with Gunther was sitting there. So was a deeper rivalry with Breakker. Dragunov could comfortably operate around the Intercontinental Championship while being credible enough to move into a world-title program whenever WWE needed him.
Then everything stopped.
Dragunov suffered a torn ACL during a live-event match against Gunther in September 2024, wiping out more than a year of his career just as he was beginning to establish himself on the main roster.
That injury cannot be ignored when judging how his WWE run unfolded. Momentum is difficult enough to build. Missing an entire year while WWE continues adding talent and moving stories forward can erase it completely.
But Dragunov eventually returned with exactly the kind of comeback that suggested WWE still saw something significant in him.
On October 17, 2025, he returned on SmackDown, answered Sami Zayn’s United States Championship Open Challenge and defeated him to win the title.
For a brief stretch, WWE found the simplest and most effective use for Dragunov: let him fight.
His United States Championship Open Challenges gave Dragunov a weekly identity and produced matches against a rotating group of challengers. It played directly into his strengths without trying to force him into a character that did not fit.
Then Carmelo Hayes defeated him for the championship on December 26.
The problem was not Dragunov losing the title.
The problem was that WWE never replaced the title with another meaningful direction.
WWE Simply Stopped Finding Something for Dragunov to Do
Dragunov remained active during the opening months of 2026, including another excellent match against Sami Zayn in January and additional involvement around the United States Championship.
But his role steadily became smaller.
His final WWE match came in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the April 17 edition of SmackDown before WrestleMania 42.
That was it.
No major feud.
No real television storyline.
No return to Gunther.
No attempt to rebuild the momentum he had before the ACL injury.
No significant creative direction heading into the final months of his contract.
That is what makes the timing of the Ilja Dragunov WWE departure so difficult to ignore. Whatever happened during contract discussions remains private, but WWE had a healthy former NXT UK Champion, former NXT Champion and former United States Champion available and still reached a point where it could go months without finding meaningful television for him.
There is a difference between not viewing Dragunov as a WrestleMania main-event superstar and having virtually nothing for him.
WWE did not need to build the company around Dragunov to make him valuable.
It simply needed to use what made him different.
Why Ilja Dragunov Leaves WWE Matters
Ilja Dragunov leaves WWE without ever receiving the complete main-roster opportunity his previous work suggested was possible.
That does not make his WWE career a failure.
Dragunov leaves with three meaningful singles championships, the distinction of ending Gunther’s legendary NXT UK title reign and a catalogue of matches that established him as one of WWE’s most consistently intense in-ring performers.
WWE also has enough roster depth to absorb his departure without immediately feeling it.
But calling somebody replaceable and actually replacing what that wrestler brings are two different things.
Dragunov could make a television match feel uncomfortable, physical and important without needing a championship or elaborate storyline. He was also the kind of wrestler who could make someone else look better simply by forcing that opponent to survive him.
That has value.
The larger disappointment is that WWE already knew how to present him. NXT UK and NXT proved it.
The main roster never consistently figured out how to recreate it.
What Comes Next for Ilja Dragunov?
There is currently no confirmed destination for Dragunov.
At 32 years old, however, he now becomes one of the more interesting names potentially available outside WWE because his value is not built entirely around WWE’s presentation of him. Dragunov had an international reputation before arriving in the company, and his WWE run only expanded it.
Where he wrestles next — and when he becomes available to do so — remains to be seen.
For now, the confirmed story is simple.
Ilja Dragunov leaves WWE because his contract has expired, ending a run that produced some exceptional highs, one brutally timed injury and a main-roster chapter that never fully became what it looked capable of becoming.
WWE did plenty with Dragunov over seven years.
The frustrating part is how much more was still sitting there when the contract ran out.
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I’m the quiet one until the bell rings then I’ve got takes. I live for WWE NXT and TNA, I want every promotion to succeed, and I will absolutely roast the bad decisions on sight (because someone has to). Anime taught me to respect long-term storytelling; wrestling taught me that sometimes the plan is “we panicked” and called it “unpredictable.” The Miz got me into all of this, so yeah I appreciate confidence, commitment, and the art of talking like you’re already the main event. Now I bring that same energy to the page as the main writer for Late Night Crew Wrestling because if you’re not here to be must-see and tell the truth, why are you here?!