Ilja Dragunov Officially Moved To WWE SmackDown Roster Following Return

Ilja Dragunov is officially a member of the Friday Night SmackDown roster.

On the October 17th edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown, Sami Zayn would host his latest WWE US Title open challenge, with The Miz initially accepting the match before he was attacked by Carmelo Hayes. In his place, Ilja Dragunov would step up to the plate after over a year on the shelf following a torn ACL. Dragunov would not only accept the open challenge, but dethrone Sami Zayn of the title in a match widely praised by fans. In the aftermath, The MFT would attack the new and former champion.

Now, WWE have made Dragunov’s new brand official, as he is now listed as being a member of the WWE Friday Night SmackDown roster following his United States Championship victory on this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown.

Ilja Dragunov has been officially moved to Friday Night SmackDown's roster following his return from injury! pic.twitter.com/bZ2K4uwmJH

— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) October 18, 2025

Prior to Dragunov’s torn ACL injury last year, he was a member of the WWE Monday Night RAW roster.

For more details on Dragunov’s long awaited WWE return, you can read more about that and his match with Sami Zayn here.

If you wish to check out the full results from this week’s edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown on October 17th, you can read them here.