The Mad Dragon is back and he’s the new United States Champion!
After missing over a year of action, Ilja Dragunov made his return to the ring Friday night on SmackDown. The former NXT Champion surprised the San Jose crowd, and Sami Zayn, when he answered the Men’s United States Open Challenge.
The challenge was initially answered by The Miz, but after he was attacked from behind by Carmelo Hayes, Dragunov used the opening to his advantage. Vic Joseph, who was filling in for Michael Cole on commentary, officially welcomed him to SmackDown — making it sound as though he’ll now call the Blue Brand home permanently.
UNBELIEVABLE!! @UNBESIEGBAR_ZAR is BACK!!! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/j3hHSXIyyp
— WWE (@WWE) October 18, 2025
Ilja has without question been putting in work behind the scenes. He’s gotten himself in tremendous shape, adding what looks to be several pounds of muscle. He was also sporting a brand new neck tattoo.
Wrestling with a leg brace on for his first match back, Dragunov showed absolutely no signs of ring rust. Zayn and himself put together a fast-paced, high energy, tough and gritty fight that had the San Jose crowd chanting, ‘Holy s—!’.
Just as he did a week ago, however, Solo Sikoa interjected himself into Sami’s business. He appeared at the top of the entrance ramp and pointed at Zayn, which caused a momentary distraction. Dragunov then drilled Zayn with a Torpedo Moscow jumping headbutt and thunderous H-Bomb elbow drop to capture the United States title.
.@UNBESIEGBAR_ZAR just dethroned @SamiZayn!! 😱 pic.twitter.com/c8DsI8VsIy
— WWE (@WWE) October 18, 2025
The MFT’s would then swarm the ring and attack both competitors after the match was over. They’d leave Zayn and Dragunov laying before Sikoa grabbed a mic and guaranteed that he would make his family champions once again.
The Wyatt Sicks would then appear for another face off, but no punches were thrown.
Ilja Dragunov / WWE.com
Dragunov was enjoying an impressive first run on the main roster last summer, when he suffered a torn ACL during a live event match against former World Heavyweight Champion Gunther. He had put together a really great body of work with hard-hitting matches against Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes and others, before getting hurt.
Initial reports were that Ilja could have returned to the ring nine months after suffering the injury, but he ended up missing significantly more time away than that. This despite reports that he was back doing rehab work at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando as far back as January.
The Moscow, Russia native is a 13-year veteran of the industry. Dragunov spent years on the independent circuit in Europe before signing with WWE in 2019. He started in NXT UK before moving to the United States three years later.
He’s best known for his series of matches with Gunther and a main roster battle between those two longtime rivals is something that fans are eagerly awaiting. However, with Dragunov now on SmackDown and The Ring General on Raw, the wait may continue for some time.
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