After watching six hard-hitting contests, two Iron Survivor Challenge matches, and a new number one contender for the NXT Championship be named in Trick Williams, Ilja Dragunov found himself in the main event of NXT Deadline opposite one of the most experienced foes he's ever faced in former United States Champion Baron Corbin.

While Dragunov has been on a roll as of late, winning his last eight matches, including a title win over Carmelo Hayes, he did suffer a loss to Corbin as recently as the summer, with the former SmackDown star knocking him out of consideration for the NXT Championship in June.

Would Corbin, who has been playing the mental game for weeks, get one over on Hayes, who is alone in a foreign land without his family by his side? Or would the “Mad Dragon” prove himself Unbesiegbar, an unbeatable force who can overcome any adversary while seeing read through his specially made contacts?

Working the clock right up to the presumed 11 o'clock Eastern deadline, Dragunov absorbed body blow after body blow from his much larger foes, taking enough damage that would make a lesser man blush, but through it all, he remained committed to his high-risk, high-reward offense, going coast-to-coast at the expense of his own physical well being and splashing himself to the mat for not one, not two but three H-Bombs before finishing off his foe with his finishing maneuver, the Torpedo Moscow, for the 1-2-3.

Triumphant, Dragunov held the belt up high, but his moment in the sun was short-lived, as who but Trick Williams and eventually Carmelo Hayes walked out to steal his spotlight, leaving fans with a vision of the future before the show went off the air.

Today, Ilja Dragunov is the NXT Champion, but will he be on this Tuesday, next Tuesday, or the first Tuesday in January? Such is the life of a world champion, always the hunted, never the hunter.