Add as a preferred source on Google Ilja Dragunov has now gone two months without appearing on WWE television, raising concern about his status with the company.
The “Mad Dragon” last appeared on April 17, during the special pre-WrestleMania 42 edition of SmackDown, when he competed in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
Royce Keys won the match, while Aleister Black eliminated names such as Joe Hendry, Shinsuke Nakamura, Ilja Dragunov, and Akira Tozawa.
The curious detail is that Black, who eliminated Dragunov, was one of the names released by WWE just days later as part of the major round of cuts that also included Kairi Sane, Zelina Vega, Santos Escobar, Alex Shelley, and Chris Sabin.
Dave Meltzer, speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, pointed to a possible explanation for Dragunov’s absence:
“I just think that they’ve got other guys that they got storylines now for. You add some people, and some people get lost in the shuffle. He’s a unique character, but to them, he’s an interchangeable mid-card guy.”
It remains to be seen whether WWE will bring Dragunov back into the mix in the coming weeks or if the former champion will continue to be another name lost in the current SmackDown roster.