After three months away from NXT, ex-NXT UK Champion Ilja Dragunov officially returned to the performance center for NXT tapings, according to The Wrestling Observer. The man who defeated Gunther for the NXT UK Championship back in August of 2021 when he was still going by Walter, Dragunov successfully defended his championship on seven occasions before having to vacate his belt due to an unspecified injury.

While Dragunov's run was impressive, his injury opened the door for a championship tournament that was ultimately won by Tyler Bate and set up the “Big Strong Boy's” match at Worlds Collide. Though Bate was ultimately unable to overcome Bron Breakker in a unification match, he's remained a fixture of NXT America ever since the first weekend of September, and reportedly lost a number one contenders match to JD McDonagh that set up a facedown with the current NXT Champion that turned into a three-way once Dragunov emerged.

Is Dragunov going to overcome McDonagh, who he wrestled back in NXT UK when he was known as Jordan Devlin, in a loser leaves the brand match to become the new number one contender? Or will he instead have to work his way up in the American iteration of the promotion to re-establish himself as a main event-caliber performer? Either way, as the WWE Universe continues to call up performers from NXT to fill out a pair of rosters obliterated by “budget cut releases,” Shawn Michaels is going to need to establish new stars as quickly as he sends them up to RAW and SmackDown. Fortunately, Dragunov is a worthy replacement for the likes of Solo Sikoa and maybe Carmelo Hayes.