Making waves in the industry, AEW President and CEO Tony Khan participated in the post-show media scrum for ROH Death Before Dishonor 2026, where he talked about various topics, including Ilja Dragunov’s contractual status with WWE.
Khan expressed, “I’m not sure about the contractual status, although that’s a tremendous, tremendous professional grappler, absolutely. I don’t know exactly what the contractual status is of people that don’t work here, I can’t keep track of those things. There is no way for me to know that, but one thing I do is that’s a phenomenal wrestler.”
As previously reported by PWMania.com, individuals within AEW have not received any information regarding the superstar’s potential joining of the promotion. Additionally, industry people with knowledge do not expect Dragunov to sign with AEW; nevertheless, this sentiment is more of a hunch than a definitive conclusion.
Dragunov final competed for WWE during the final SmackDown before The Grandest Stage of Them All 42 — where he participated in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He is now as reported an unrestricted free agent following the expiration of his WWE pact.
You can check out Khan’s comment in the video below.
(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)