Ilja Dragunov is All Elite as of the AEW WrestleDream PPV event on Saturday night and took the high road when discussing his contract negotiations with WWE.
WWE trims its roster after WrestleMania each year. This year, they trimmed more than that. Reports revealed that numerous WWE talents were asked to take a 50% pay cut in order to stay with the company. Most notably, The New Level, formerly New Day in WWE, denied the WWE cut request and were subsequently released.
Since then, The New Level made their AEW debuts at All In inside Wembley Stadium and won the AEW World Trios Championships along with Swerve Strickland on the very same day. Now that Ilja Dragunov is in AEW, he will look to make a similar impact.
Renee Paquette introduced Dragunov at WrestleDream, and the live audience popped for the former WWE star. Dragunov didn't wrestle at WrestleDream, but he will have his first AEW match on this week's episode of Dynamite.
Ilja Dragunov refused to dish on contract negotiations with WWE
In a new interview with Ariel Helwani, Dragunov was asked about business dealings with WWE and whether or not he was asked to take a cut in pay. He took the high road with the answer, but was insightful about his negotiations and not renewing his contract.
"It was an accumulation of a lot of things. Of course, the offering, because we all know at the end of the day, it's a business. But also, it's definitely based on my feeling of how I want to work creatively... Everything I knew is that the expiration of my contract came and the negotiations didn't lead anywhere."
“To be honest, (I'm much too) discreet and too much of a businessman and a gentleman myself to talk about these kinds of things," Dragunov said about negotiating with WWE. "Everything I can say is that it was nothing that I felt satisfying, and nothing that gave me the perspective of, ‘Okay, I must stick with what I hear.’”
Dragunov's potential dream matches in AEW
Now, dream matches for Dragunov are in abundance. The AEW roster offers plenty of potential opponents who are both fresh and intriguing for him in the ring.
Dragunov vs. Will Ospreay is a title program that will sell tickets. Both men are masters of their craft and can adapt their style to fit their opponent. Ospreay is the world champion and a match against Dragunov would be appointment viewing for AEW fans.
Other potential AEW dream matches for Dragunov include Kenny Omega, Swerve Strickland, MJF, Mike Bailey, Tomasso Ciamp, Kazuchika Okada, Samoa Joe, Jon Moxley, Adam Page, Adam Copeland, and many others.
In WWE, Dragunov was a former WWE NXT UK Champion, a NXT Champion, and a WWE United States Champion on the main roster.
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