WWE Didnt View Ilja Dragunov As A Needle Mover

What's good y'all? It's your boy Ross back at again with another video. Now, I didn't get a chance to talk about this yesterday because it was my birthday. So, I was kind of just trying to make sure I didn't do any work and just enjoyed myself on my birthday. But, a lot of you guys were hitting me up about this whole situation. And I definitely wanted to make a independent video talking about this. And that is Ilia Dragunov um departing from WWE and him basically not wanting to renew his contract. I know for a lot of people it's quite frustrating to hear this type of news considering how good Dragunov really is, but for whatever reason WWE Creative just didn't have anything for him. They had something for him when he returned on Smackdown. And Smackdown needed all the the the star power they can get, all the wrestlers they can get cuz Smackdown around that time was pretty stale outside of the United States Championship scene. And then after that, they haven't really done much with him after he lost the title and and he had his moment with Brock Lesnar only to be thrown out of the ring like straight trash. And from there he, you know, he just started fading into catering. And Dragunov is a fantastic wrestler. You would think they would have something for him, but apparently they couldn't come up with anything creatively to give Dragunov, but we're going to check out this article talking about what's been going on with that whole situation. Appreciate all love, support, man. Let's get into this. New details emerging emerge regarding Ilia Dragunov surprising WWE departure. Ilia Dragunov left WWE on Tuesday and new reports have resurfaced about recent contract negotiations between him and the company. The Mad Dragons day in WWE has come to an end. News first started making the rounds early Thursday afternoon that Ilia Dragunov had chosen to let his contract uh with the company expired and that he was officially a free agent. his profile on WWE'se's website have shifted to the alumni section around that same time, seemingly confirming the authentic authenticity of uh those reports. Uh Dragunov missed over a year of his career after he tore his ACL in a live event match with Gunther, but he made an impactful return to the ring this past October when he defeated Sami Zay to win the men's United States Championship. by the time the calendar uh flipped to 2026. However, his usage on on television started to dwindle. Uh WWE reportedly didn't view Ilia Dragunov as a numbers mover. just off that headliner alone. That's how you know there there has to be some disconnect with creative and and the fans and and even the wrestlers themselves cuz I do think Dragunov could have been one of those guys that the fans truly started to get behind if you would have kept using him and if you would have kept him with the presence of someone that is like legitimately ely, you know, a threat to people like how he was presented in NXT. You know, he in NXT UK, he was presented as someone that will go to the ends of the earth, deal with all types of pain and brutality to beat their opponent. I mean, we literally could have gotten a Dragun off versus Gunther if you would have built him up enough and people would have been excited because they would have known, okay, Ilia, he he's one of those fighters that will not give up and will fight to the very end and could possibly take someone like Gunther to their very limits. But for whatever reason, they stopped. So, you're telling me he's not a numbers mover when you stop pushing him? Of course, he's not going to move numbers. If you stop pushing him and he starts taking losses, people eventually will stop caring. So, this notion that, oh, he wasn't a numbers mover, that's why. No, y'all stop pushing him. Where's the disconnect coming from? From creative to the wrestler, what what's going on in the fans in between? how he's one of the more talented wrestlers on your roster and you let him go and then claim he's not a needle mover when you are the ones that control that too. Y'all have a say so. If you're pushing him and it's not working, okay, but if you're not pushing him, of course it's not going to work. What What are we talking about? Dude got squashed by Brock. I wouldn't say squashed. He just took those chops from Brock uh to Brock Lesnar. He took the chops, hitting Brock Lesnar multiple times and Brock just no soda and threw him out the ring. That just that let you know right there they don't they didn't take him seriously. If there was a little bit of some type of back and forth, some intense wrestling there if they wanted to do that. And even then, you still could have had Ilia thrown over. It would have made him look as bad. That may make Ilia look like a complete joke. But let's finish this up. Uh, according to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer newsletter, contract negotiations between Dragunov and WWE played a huge role in the decision to pull him from television following Wrestlemania 42 weekend in Las Vegas. So, contract negotiations is why they pulled him out of of a huge role. Like, what? So because they couldn't come to agreement, that's why they all well we'll have you sit and cater until we can figure something out. Dragunov signed what was termed a very good contract and it was coming due in talks over a new deal. The sides were far enough apart that the decision was made in April not to use him anymore. He would be free to wrestle anywhere at this point as there is no a no non-compete for a contract running out. Uh it was reported by the wrestling observer and false finish on Thursday that both parties were strongly discussing a return to Smackdown for Ilia as recently as June but those negotiations fell fell apart. It was essentially conceded Dragunov was a great worker but not a numbers mover and evidently for the level of money he was asking and getting you needed to be a numbers mover. Dave Meltzer wrote in a newsletter Friday. He's an incredible he's had incredible matches in NXT, including bounce with uh with Walter aka Gunther now that are among the best matches in company history. He used the name Ilia Dragon starting in 2012. So, he would have the prior useability to continue using it. There have not been any reports of this writing about Dragunov's next career move, but considering the his specta uh spectacular in ring ability, he should garner a heavy interest on the open market. Unsurprisingly, AEW is seen as a natural fit for the Mad Dragon by many fans and critics. But Tony Khan already has a full roster. Plus, both Kofi and Austin Cree, formerly known as the New Day, Kofi Kingston and Xav are expected to debut with All Elite Wrestling in the near future. And here here's the thing about this, bro. I don't think there's anything else. But here's the thing about this that's kind of frustrating with WWE, especially when it comes to actual good talent that they just for whatever reason don't want to use. If you say he's not a needle mover, then you have to blame yourself for that, too. Because even prior to WrestleMania, they weren't doing nothing with him outside of that Brock Lesnar situation, which a lot of people view as like something that, you know, the writing was on the wall with that. I mean, what what have you done with him to make him somewhat try to be a needle mover? Nothing. Nothing. So if the negotiations weren't working, you kept him off TV to only try to negoti neg renegotiate again before the contract ended. Of course, he's not going to move no needles because you guys essentially said, "Nah, we can't come to agreement, so we're just going to keep you off TV." There could have been a situation where maybe you didn't come to agreement, kept them on TV. Actually, hey, let's do an experiment. Let's see if we can start pushing this guy. Let's see if we can give him some wins. Will the people start caring? Then you can possibly go, "All right, you know what? People are starting to rock with you. Let's do something." But here's the thing. They're not trying to pay that WWE TKO. They're not trying to actually see if there's an opportunity for a wrestler to get over because then the wrestler has more leverage to ask for more money. And I I it's just a it's frustrating, bro. It's frustrating. and he's one of the greater wrestlers on the roster and the fact that they haven't done much with him for how talented he is is frustrating. Now, there are going to be some people saying, "Well, he wasn't really connecting with the crowd." I think when he was came back and came United States Champion, people were excited. people at least when we had them three-hour Smackdowns, we knew at maybe 30 minutes of those three hours, if he's going to go out there and have a United States Open Challenge uh match for someone, he's going to go out there and give it his all. And he was going to give you a great match. That is something that the fans at least has something to look forward to now that he's gone because they don't view him as a needle mover. I'm very confused considering once again I don't even think they really gave him enough time. It's like for some people they feel like you gotta immediately get over you got to immediately be going crazy moving merch and I'm like well not everybody's going to have that trajectory. Some people it takes a little bit more time, but if you use them eventually it can get to a point where they actually do get over. It can get to a point where people start getting behind them even more. But instead they said, "Nah, you're not a needle mover even though we're not putting you on television." Yeah. Once Brock tossed you out of that ring, we already knew. That was our way of letting you know you're not a needle mover. So, it's unfortunate. Uh, I don't know if he's going to go to AEW. Um, we will see, but wherever he goes, he will be someone that can definitely enhance that roster because the dude's talented. And I'm glad that he just bet on himself. If they're not going to I mean, especially when the company's telling you you're pretty much not a needle mover, bro. Like, you your ceiling is there. There's nothing you can do. Your ceiling has been reached when they're telling you that. Yeah. Unless you just want to sit there and collect, you know, the money, you might as well just go ahead and go somewhere else where you can build your name up, build your resume because it's really unfortunate. And it really does show, and we've seen a lot of this, for whatever reason, certain people in NXT, especially if they, you know, been getting love and praise from Triple H back in NXT, when it comes to the main roster, that [ __ ] is out the [ __ ] window. It used to be maybe you had some type of safety net. No. No. If Triple H booked you well in NXT and on the main roster you're booked like Johnny Gargano, no one's safe outside of the few people that you know came in when Vince was in control and they're good. Outside of that, bro, you cooked. If you your golden days with NXT, you cooked on the main roster. Even if Triple H is controlling things, you're you're probably even more cooked. So, hey, comment down below. Let me know how you guys feel about Dragnoff, you know, leaving WWE. How y'all feel about the comments of saying he's not a needle mover. Do you guys agree? Do you guys disagree? Let me know down below. But I appreciate all love, support, road to 20K. Appreciate y'all kicking with me. See you on the next one. Peace.