Ilja Dragunov on His Interest In Competing In AEW’s Continental Classic

As noted before, Ilja Dragunov made his official debut for AEW at their WrestleDream 2026 event earlier this month and made his official AEW in-ring debut at October 21st AEW Dynamite show in Coral Gables, Florida.

A recent episode of the AEW Advance digital show featured Dragunov as a guest. One of the topics discussed included Dragunov’s thoughts about his interest in competing in AEW’s Continental Classic tournament. Dragunov also gave his thoughts about his interest in a potential match with Eddie Kingston in the future in AEW.

“I mean, it’s possibly one of your favorites for a reason. There is a lot of thought that I have on the Continental Classic because looking back at 2023, Eddie, Eddie Kingston. 2024, (Kazuchika) Okada. ‘25, (Jon) Moxley. I did get it right in the order? This tournament represents mental toughness, because as far as I remember, all these people went through injuries, through setbacks, through really memorable moments, especially with Eddie. A big moment. A big emotional moment. If you know Eddie, it’s a big emotional moment. He’s also a person if you could talk about who I wanna wrestle — back in the day — Eddie, I love you. I love your work — but you still called me an actor, and you still said that you are tired of making stars so, we have some date somewhere and you know that. But anyway, this tournament is representing strength, resilience, and I feel like the landscape of AEW is about to change. Why? Because I am here. So if you talk about strength, about grit, and especially resilience and intensity, and something memorable and emotional to happen, it would be second-hand embarrassing to take away the chance for the people, for me to maybe not be there but I’m not the person to make the decision.”

Ilja Dragunov has a lot of thoughts about entering The Continental Classic as Arkady Aura and Lexy Nair got the exclusive with him on #AEWAdvance 👀 👀 👀 https://t.co/J6aFVrVVPl

— AEW on TV (@AEWonTV) October 30, 2026

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com