On this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, a teaser vignette aired on the show hyping the arrival of a brand new face to All Elite Wrestling.
While the person’s face was not shown, the mannerisms of the wrestler and the chanting of the word ‘Unbesiegbar’ left no doubt that it was teasing the arrival of Ilja Dragunov.
Last night, AEW uploaded a follow up video, this time directly using the tag for WrestleDream, seemingly confirming that Ilja will arrive on tonight’s show.
With Ilja’s AEW debut imminent, AEW must make sure he makes a major impact on the show.
Ilja Dragunov to enter Clockwork Carnage?
Tonight’s event is set to be headlined by the debut of a new stipulation match in AEW, with Will Ospreay defending the AEW World Championship in ‘Clockwork Carnage’.
The match will feature eight competitors, all of whom have already qualified in matches in recent weeks on television, so there is in theory no room for another entrant into the match.
AEW rarely runs angles to remove wrestlers from a match, and naturally if they did so at WrestleDream and we hadn’t seen Ilja before then, we know who would be taking the spot.
However, Ilja immediately entering the show’s main event and locking up with the top stars of the company on night one would immediately make him a player.
How the Mad Dragon could make an immediate impact
Even without entering the Clockwork Carnage match, there are other big ways that Dragunov could debut at WrestleDream and immediately become a threat on the roster.
Ilja Dragunov and Tommaso Ciampa had a great match on SmackDown that was Ciampa’s last match in the company, and with Ciampa potentially set to win the National Championship tonight, AEW could run the match back as Ilja’s debut.
Ilja would also make a great addition to Will Ospreay’s AEW United Empire faction, so even if he doesn’t compete in the match itself, he could make a grand entrance during the Clockwork Carnage main event to help Ospreay retain the title, potentially fighting off members of the Don Callis Family who appear to help Kazuchika Okada.
While Ilja will naturally slide onto the AEW roster due to his quality work, how AEW decides to debut the Mad Dragon will be an immediate tell on where exactly he will settle on the card, at least short term.
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