Ilja Dragunov discusses the growth he has gone through since facing off with Gunther in NXT UK.
On October 22nd, 2021 at NXT Takeover 36, Ilja Dragunov would challenge Gunther for the NXT United Kingdom Championship for the second time in the pairs rivalry. Dragunov was able to defeat Gunther in that matchup, ending the Austrian's 870 day reign as champion. Dragunov would later have to relinquish the championship dude to injury, heading to the main NXT brand upon his clearance for in ring action.
While speaking on WWE's The Bump, Ilja Dragunov discussed how he has grown since his matchup with Gunther.
“Entirely different. I mean, look at my body of work I’ve put in since I came back to NXT back in November. Every single performance I’m in is memorable. People will see a difference as soon as I step into the ring. People feel something. People feel a connection, they feel an intensity that they’ve never seen before. There’s no one, at this point, doesn’t matter if it’s NXT or WWE in general, who can fill my spot because I’m entirely unique, and this is a reason why I’m sitting here as the NXT Champion." he said.
Dragunov continued, stating that his passion and soul are the biggest strengths he has.
“I think I just elevated everything I did. Every performer needs to rely on their strength, and as soon as I stepped into this business, I knew that my passion, my soul, the energy I have, is my biggest strength. Even my pain resistance, all of these things, I try to push and elevate all the time. It takes a lot of life out of me. I don’t know how much life I already lost through this, but I need to push things to the limit, and I do it every single time. I have no rest while I’m doing this. This is a reason why I just keep getting better and better, and this is what people see when I perform."
Dragunov is currently the NXT Champion and defeated Carmelo Hayes back at No Mercy on September 30th. He is now currently scheduled to defend the title against Baron Corbin at the upcoming NXT Deadline event.
Elsewhere on the episode of The Bump, Santos Escobar warned Randy Orton against coming to Friday Night SmackDown tonight. You can read more here.
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