Ilja Dragunov explained why he decided to bring back his old entrance music, “Soviet March,” for his AEW debut at WrestleDream.
During an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Dragunov said the song combines his Russian roots, his German upbringing, and his love of classical music. He also talked about how those elements helped him build his character.
“Because it’s putting together so many layers of my persona,” Dragunov said. “I’m Russian-born but German-raised, and I have a lot of roots through to my German side of culture, but also to my family Russian side. And in the beginning, of course, when you try to find your own persona in professional wrestling, everybody was portraying me, of course, when I started, like, okay, you’re the Russian, so we need Russian music.”
Dragunov said:
“But I love classical music, so it has this classical vibe, but it also has this other vibe, and it’s also very heavy. And it also just fits so perfectly with my over-the-top, artsy, orchestra-composer-like persona. It fits just all the boxes. So if you hear this music, it exactly tells you how I perform.”
Dragunov also said his WrestleDream presentation was developed together with AEW. He said he was able to pitch his own ideas from the moment talks began and work with the company on building the entrance.
“That is the best part about this, that since the work has begun, it has been always a collaboration,” Dragunov said. “It has been always working together. So all the ideas that came from the company side and all the ideas that I had in my mind creatively were just flowing so well into one another.”
Being able to bring back his old music was the part of the process that moved him most.
“That was such a beautiful procedure to work,” Dragunov said. “And even just to get one little detail, that was one that touched my heart the most, is that even the entrance music, that it was possible to get this specific entrance music.”
“This guided me through the youngest, youngest years to my biggest moments that put me on the platform in Europe, got me to the United Kingdom, got me to the States,” Dragunov said. “So much of my career is based on that music. And when I heard this music and did my entrance on Saturday at WrestleDream, I felt like a child again in the business.”
“And I was craving this feeling for a very, very long time,” Dragunov said.
Dragunov came out to “Soviet March” again on Wednesday for his AEW in-ring debut.