Ilja Dragunov to join AEW: What is the former WWE star’s potential ceiling under Tony Khan

Back in August, it was confirmed that former United States Champion Ilja Dragunov had departed WWE at the expiration of his contract.

Since his departure, many fans had expected that Ilja would eventually land in All Elite Wrestling, with Fightful Select recently reporting that is expected to be the case.

It’s hard to argue that Ilja never got the chance to reach his full potential on the WWE main roster, but will that also be the case for his time in AEW?

The wasted potential of Ilja Dragunov in WWE

After spending over a year out of action with a torn ACL in 2024, Ilja returned to WWE television in October 2025, defeating Sami Zayn in his first match back to capture the United States Championship.

The moment seemed to be the beginning of Ilja’s main roster run, with his reign featuring a number of incredible matches against names like Carmelo Hayes, Tommaso Ciampa and Sami Zayn.

However, after losing the United States Championship to Carmelo Hayes, Ilja barely appeared on television again, his last match coming as part of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal earlier this year.

Ilja left WWE having barely even scratched the surface of what he was capable of, with WWE not even getting around to running Ilja vs. Gunther on the main roster.

Dream matches galore await in AEW

Over the years, WWE stars have joined AEW to varying degrees of success.

While names like Toni Storm, Swerve Strickland and Andrade El Idolo have undoubtedly seen their stock rise after joining the company, there are other names who have found themselves in a similar spot in AEW compared to WWE.

However, while the spot on the roster may be the same, the difference is AEW being a lot more open to giving time in the ring to it’s midcarders, to the point where the strengths of those names are still spotlighted better in AEW compared to WWE.

For Ilja, he definitely has the ability and potential to work his way up to the top of the AEW roster, eventually locking up with names like Jon Moxley, Adam Page and Kyle Fletcher.

AEW World Champion Will Ospreay recently announced that he was looking to create an AEW version of the United Empire, which would be the perfect spot to introduce Ilja into the company.

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