Ilja Dragunov
Dragunov in 2019 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ilja Rukober 10 October 1993 Moscow, Russia |
| Children | 1 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Ilja Dragunov |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) |
| Billed weight | 210 lb (95 kg) |
| Billed from | The Soviet Union Moscow, Russia Dresden, Germany |
| Trained by | Axel Tischer Rick Baxxter The Hart Dungeon 2.0 |
| Debut | 21 April 2012 |
Ilja Rukober (Russian: Илья́ Руко́бер, romanized: Ilʹya Rukober; born 10 October 1993), known by his ring name Ilja Dragunov (Илья Драгунов, Ilʹya Dragunov) is a Russian-German professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand and is a former one-time WWE United States Champion. He formerly competed on the NXT UK and NXT brands, where he won each brand's main title: the NXT United Kingdom Championship and the NXT Championship. He is the first non-kayfabe Russian-born male wrestler to compete and win a championship in the WWE.
Before signing with WWE, Rukober competed on the European independent circuit and is also known for his time with Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), where he is a former Unified World Wrestling Champion, three-time wXw World Tag Team Champion and two-time wXw Shotgun Champion. He is also best known for his inter-promotional rivalry with Walter, which spans from wXw, when, notably, Dragunov won the 2017 16 Carat Gold tournament and the Unified World Wrestling Championship against him the next year, to the NXT UK and NXT brands, when Dragunov and Walter had two Wrestling Observer Newsletter rated five-plus-star matches for the NXT United Kingdom Championship, the second of which Dragunov won at NXT TakeOver 36.