WWE Reportedly Doesn’t View Ilja Dragunov as a ‘Top Guy’

Where on Earth is former WWE United States Champion Ilja Dragunov? It’s a question fans have been asking recently. During the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer put forth that WWE doesn’t view Ilja Dragunov as a “top guy.”

Meltzer said on Dragunov (via WrestlePurists), “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.” He continued, “They don’t see him as a top guy. They just don’t.”

Meltzer also went on to say he’s not saying WWE management’s perception of Dragunov is wrong, but that the wrestler hasn’t had enough of an opportunity to show he can be more than a guy who works great matches. He added, “And I’m not even saying they’re necessarily wrong, but he just never really had the opportunity to be anything more than the guy who gives you really, really great matches. He’s got a level of intensity that no one else has, which is his calling card, but I think that maybe they feel the promos aren’t great.”

Dragunov has not appeared on WWE programming since the April 17 edition of WWE SmackDown, where he competed in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Also, Sean Ross Sapp stated in a recent Fightful Select Answers Q&A that Dragunov had recently been training at Nattie Neidhart and TJ Wilson’s Dungeon. Sapp also said that he hadn’t heard much of “anything else” regarding involvement for Dragunov in any WWE creative plans coming up.