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Ilja Dragunov will have to miss significant time after sustaining an injury over the weekend.
WWE announced Monday that Dragunov is “suspected” to have suffered a torn ACL after his match with Gunther on Saturday. The injury is expected to keep him out of the ring for six to nine months.
After establishing an early wrestling career in Europe, Dragunov signed with WWE in 2019 to perform for the company’s NXT UK brand. He became NXT UK’s champion in 2021 after defeating Noam Dar in a singles match, which helped propel him to join NXT in 2022.
In September of 2023, Dragunov defeated Carmelo Hayes to win the NXT Championship for the first time in his career. He reigned as champion until April when he lost to Trick Williams in what would ultimately be his final NXT match.
After being promoted to Raw during the 2024 WWE Draft, Dragunov competed in the King of the Ring tournament where he beat Ricochet in the first round before losing to Jey Uso in the quarterfinals.
So far in his early WWE career, Dragunov has found some success but hasn’t found himself competing in primetime matches just yet. The 31-year-old is still looking to establish himself on the main WWE roster following his promotion, but a torn ACL certainly won’t help Dragunov.
He’ll now embark on his recovery as he looks to get back in the ring as soon as possible.
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