The Dart Posted August 20 Posted August 20 (edited) 32 minutes ago, RedTwoster said: Ilja Dragunov is leaving WWE, according to PWInsider. There’s a danger in saying ‘AEW should sign them’ with every WWE departure, but this guy is one of the most talented wrestlers on the planet, never really getting to find his groove in WWE. AEW should absolutely bring him in, he’d be a much better fit there. He's already a free agent apparently, so AEW would be mad not to have him as a surprise in the Casino Gauntlet next week, even if it's a one off. I'm sure they'll sign him though. Edited August 20 by The Dart Quote
DavidB6937 Posted August 20 Posted August 20 Apparently he chose to leave. Good. They didn't bother with him so why they'd want to keep him now is stupid. Quote
BrodyGraham Posted August 20 Posted August 20 Other than Torpedo Moscow being a shit finish, Dragunov was one of those guys on the UK/European scene who looked absolutely can't miss. I like the idea of him in AEW but I also foresee an absolutely fucking interminable program with Gabe Kidd! Quote
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted August 20 Paid Members Posted August 20 8 minutes ago, BrodyGraham said: Other than Torpedo Moscow being a shit finish I'm not aware of if I've ever seen him wrestle, but based on that being the name of his finisher I already like him. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted August 20 Paid Members Posted August 20 (edited) I'm not really a fan. Hate his goofy selling with a passion and the AEW roster is overloaded as is. Really don't want AEW to turn back into the land of ex-WWE guys when their homegrown talent is almost always superior. Hope he goes to MLW. Edited August 20 by LaGoosh Quote
Olly1984 Posted August 20 Posted August 20 40 minutes ago, BrodyGraham said: Other than Torpedo Moscow being a shit finish, Dragunov was one of those guys on the UK/European scene who looked absolutely can't miss. I like the idea of him in AEW but I also foresee an absolutely fucking interminable program with Gabe Kidd! When hit right the Torpedo Moscow is a thing of beauty, check out when he returned and absolutely mullered Sami Zayn with it!! They have dropped a massive fucking bollock not at least revisiting Dragunov/Gunther as well in my opinion. But they don't really care how good wrestlers are now, more can they get viral moments and other bullshit so fuck em. Quote
Paid Members Arch Stanton Posted August 20 Paid Members Posted August 20 1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said: Apparently he chose to leave. Good. They didn't bother with him so why they'd want to keep him now is stupid. I wouldn't say they 'didn't bother with him'. He won the US Title on his SmackDown debut and had a decent reign which saw him beat a string of guys in weekly open challenges. That's more than a lot of guys ever get. They seemed quite high on him for a while, as he was useful for filling TV time with guaranteed good matches, but he never really felt like a great fit for WWE - he's small compared to most on their roster and he doesn't really have a big enough personality to make up for that. He's one of the few guys around today who I actually enjoy watching bell-to-bell, so it's a shame he's going, but I think he'd gone as far as he could with WWE. Quote
DavidB6937 Posted August 20 Posted August 20 14 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said: I wouldn't say they 'didn't bother with him'. He won the US Title on his SmackDown debut and had a decent reign which saw him beat a string of guys in weekly open challenges. That's more than a lot of guys ever get. They seemed quite high on him for a while, as he was useful for filling TV time with guaranteed good matches, but he never really felt like a great fit for WWE - he's small compared to most on their roster and he doesn't really have a big enough personality to make up for that. He's one of the few guys around today who I actually enjoy watching bell-to-bell, so it's a shame he's going, but I think he'd gone as far as he could with WWE. I don't think he got a real sustained push on the main roster to establish him if im honest. Sure he got more than some but that's not saying much. It felt like they gave up on him at some point when they've given many chances to a lot of other guys. Look at someone like Gable with his ups and downs and I wouldn't say he's been massively over with crowds for much of his main roster run since NXT. But he's still been used a lot. Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted August 21 Paid Members Posted August 21 10 hours ago, LaGoosh said: I'm not really a fan. Hate his goofy selling with a passion and the AEW roster is overloaded as is. Really don't want AEW to turn back into the land of ex-WWE guys when their homegrown talent is almost always superior. Hope he goes to MLW. On the whole I’d agree, but Dragunov barely feels ex-WWE to me, given how sparingly he was used. As Arch points out, he was made US Champion but it barely feels like that happened. Like Swerve, Toni Storm, FTR, PAC and Ricochet before him, I think he’s one of those ex-WWE wrestlers who would very quickly make you forget he was a WWE wrestler in the first place. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted August 21 Paid Members Posted August 21 44 minutes ago, RedTwoster said: On the whole I’d agree, but Dragunov barely feels ex-WWE to me, given how sparingly he was used. As Arch points out, he was made US Champion but it barely feels like that happened. Like Swerve, Toni Storm, FTR, PAC and Ricochet before him, I think he’s one of those ex-WWE wrestlers who would very quickly make you forget he was a WWE wrestler in the first place. I just don't like the guy. If he turns up maybe he'll surprise me. But considering there's loads of people under contract in AEW right now that I love watching who barely get any serious TV time I'd rather not have even more people turning up. Quote
Paid Members Supremo Posted August 21 Paid Members Posted August 21 The novelty of Dragunov was always as a stiff as fuck maniac somehow falling through the cracks and finding himself working the top of the hour on Friday Night Smackdown. Like a man badly photoshopped into the wrong company. I guess he’d fit better in AEW, but only in as much as he’d be just another wrestler having dead long matches on Collision that I don’t watch. Quote
Paid Members mim731 Posted August 21 Paid Members Posted August 21 It's probably a whole new thread entirely, but this being another release/contract expiry and with the number of releases this year, plus the bloated nature of both WWE and AEW's rosters, I do wonder if maybe there is room for a third big promotion? I'm not factoring in TNA, because their relationship with WWE makes it feel like that would be the same as including ROH in it's current incarnation. There's a lot of talent either languishing, in catering or being underused/not used at all. I don't know if there's necessarily the fan appetite for another promotion (probably not), but it definitely feels like there's a glut of talent at a high level and not enough spots for them. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted August 21 Paid Members Posted August 21 (edited) There's certainly the wrestlers for it but I don’t think there's any space for it or fan demand. I don't know what a third major promotion could offer that a fan wouldn't already be able to get from WWE, AEW, CMLL, NJPW, TNA or the indie scene. You could watch a different promotion every night of the week and still miss loads. Fans are overloaded. Edited August 21 by LaGoosh Quote
TheScarlettChad Posted August 21 Posted August 21 It'd have to be a glorified indie. One the big two could raid for talent. TNA is that for WWE. ROH is part of AEW. So I don't see how there could be. MLW I guess? Quote
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted August 21 Paid Members Posted August 21 Draganov reminds me of Rush but if he didn’t appear to be an unstable lunatic or someone supports domestic abusers Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.