Ilja Dragunov has been with WWE for years now, but it was reported on Thursday that he was done with the company, and WWE confirmed the departure when his profile was moved to the alumni section of the company’s official website.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Ilja Dragunov’s contract expired on 8/20 and he is now a free agent. It was noted that when asking about his status in recent months they were only told that he wasn’t injured, but that creative wasn’t using him. One version was that creative had nothing for Dragunov, but another version was that they were specifically told he was unavailable to be used.
According to the report he originally signed a very good contract, and it was coming up. The sides were said to be far enough apart during talks for a new deal that the decision was made back in April to not use him.
It was conceded that Ilja Dragunov was a great worker, but not a numbers mover for the amount of money he was getting. It was also noted that WWE essentially did what Tony Khan does when the belief is that someone isn’t going to re-sign, as the company took him off TV and stopped using him.
As of this writing Dragunov is a free agent and can work anywhere.