Ilja Dragunov’s AEW Debut Looks Like a Future World Champion

Ilja Dragunov looked like a giant on Wednesday night. In his first AEW match, the former WWE star went through “Speedball” Mike Bailey in the Dynamite main event, and the crowd treated him like they’d been waiting years for him to show up.

Johnny North called it right away on Wrestling Uncensored. “I definitely could see him as world champion,” he said. I’m not sure he’s wrong.

Dragunov’s debut also capped one of AEW’s busiest weeks of the year, starting with a very good, but way, way too long, WrestleDream. Let’s get into all of it.

Ilja Dragunov’s AEW Debut Delivered

AEW didn’t ease Ilja Dragunov in. He went after Bailey’s leg early, hit a German suplex, ate a standing moonsault and those flipping knees, then fought back with headbutts and a superplex before the H-Bomb put Bailey away, according to Wrestling Inc’s Dynamite results.

That’s the right opponent for a debut. Bailey makes everybody look good, and he takes a beating like nobody else on the roster. As Johnny put it: “Bailey kind of helped, obviously, but he looks like a monster in there.”

Dragunov had already shown up at WrestleDream the Saturday before, so the crowd knew what was coming. They were ready, and they were loud.

Why Dragunov Fits AEW Better Than WWE

I think his style is built for AEW. There’s something about the image and the gimmick that just fits better there than it did in WWE. I can’t totally explain it, but you can see it.

In WWE, Dragunov was the tenacious guy who kept getting up. Great matches, real moments, but always a step below. We covered what really happened when WWE brought Dragunov back in August, and the short version is that WWE never figured out where to put him on the card.

AEW knows exactly where he goes. His hard-hitting style is the house style there. Nobody in that locker room will think he’s too stiff. And on a roster full of flyers, a fridge-built guy who throws headbutts stands out immediately.

Is Dragunov a Future AEW World Champion?

Johnny thinks Ilja Dragunov will “shoot up to the main event quite quickly.” I agree, with one condition. AEW has to keep him strong for the next three months. No 50-50 booking, no losing to the Don Callis Family in a six-man the second week.

Here’s my prediction. Ilja Dragunov is in the AEW World title picture by All In 2027, and he gets a pay-per-view match with Will Ospreay before that. Where I could be wrong: Ospreay already has a line of challengers, starting with Samoa Joe.

AEW WrestleDream 2026: Good Show, Too Long

WrestleDream 2026 happened on Saturday, October 17, in Orlando. I gave it an 8 out of 10. Johnny went 7. We agree on the problem: it was four and a half hours, not counting the pre-show.

“It took me days to get through it,” Johnny said. “There were some very good things in this, very good matches, but I need to take a break every now and then.”

Some matches didn’t need to be on pay-per-view. Persephone’s four-way for the TBS Championship was fine, but why was it there? Nick Wayne vs Chris Jericho was a decent match that I just didn’t care about. Andrade vs Tommaso Ciampa went 21 minutes and didn’t need to.

Results via Wrestling Inc and Wrestling Inc’s trios coverage.

The Best of WrestleDream

The Young Bucks vs Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight was the match of the show for me. Johnny went in after reading Dave Meltzer call it maybe the greatest tag match ever. His take: incredible spots, very innovative, but not the greatest ever. Very, very good. Fair.

Mercedes Moné vs. Thekla was a fantastic opener, and we both loved it. Johnny made a point I agree with: AEW pay-per-views are better with more one-on-one title matches and fewer eight-person spot fests.

Moxley vs. Mark Davis was a bloodbath. Moxley bleeds in most of his big matches, and this was a lot even for him. Johnny called it his favorite Moxley match in a long time. If you skipped it, go find it.

Then there’s Clockwork Carnage. I liked it. Johnny thought it was just too much, 40 minutes on top of everything else. The final 15 minutes were great. Getting there felt like 30. Ospreay survived, but Samoa Joe made him tap in, and Johnny thinks Joe vs. Ospreay at Full Gear is the obvious next step.

Edge, Blood and Guts and the Road to Full Gear

Blood and Guts is on Dynamite, Wednesday, November 4, in Jacksonville. Will Ospreay, Adam Copeland, Darby Allin, Steven Borden and the Young Bucks against the Don Callis Family: Kazuchika Okada, Kyle Fletcher, Wardlow, Kevin Knight, Mark Davis and Jake Doyle. A women’s Blood and Guts looks like it’s coming together too.

Davis and Doyle squashed the Bucks in a title eliminator on Dynamite. That was shocking and a nice booking decision, because now the Bucks have to defend against them at Full Gear on November 14 in Phoenix, per AEW’s Full Gear announcement.

And then there’s Copeland. He says 2027 will be his last year. So I asked Johnny: What if he gets hurt before then? He’s in there with Fletcher and Knight and Ospreay, and Christian is already hurt. If he tears something and misses six months, does he push it to 2028?

Johnny’s answer: AEW will be careful, and he can still go. “He’s super over,” he said. “You could easily put the title on him, and people would be a hundred percent behind that.” Keep that in mind when you compare him to the newcomer. Ilja Dragunov is the future. Copeland might still be the present.

If you’re catching up, our AEW All In 2026 results show how Ospreay won the title in the first place, and our All Out preview set up most of this fall.

Reality Check

The Reality: AEW’s problem has never been talent. It has too much of it, and it puts all of it on four-and-a-half-hour shows. Ilja Dragunov is the most exciting thing to happen to the roster in months. The only way to waste him is to bury him in the middle of a show nobody can finish.

Wrestling Uncensored is live every Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern on the Ringside Report Network.

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Ilja Dragunov and AEW WrestleDream 2026: Frequently Asked Questions