Subscribe
Follow Us
Whether they wrestle one more match, 100 more matches, or never wrestle again, Ilja Dragunov and Gunther will forever be linked for one reason and one reason alone: NXT UK.
Working on one of the most criminally overlooked brands in the WWE Universe, Dragunov, and Gunther – then wrestling as Walter – went to absolute war on four occasions in the promotion, culminating in the “Unbesiegbar” securing a career-defining win over his gigantic foe at NXT Takeover 36, where the now-29-year-old from Moscow, Russia ended the NXT UK Champion's reign at 870 days.
So naturally, with that sort of history on the books, plus 30 more matches on the indies largely in wXw, it would make sense to bring Dragunov up to the main roster and give him the coveted role of being the cruiserweight set-up guy in Imperium, the faction featuring the “Ring General,” Ludwig Kaiser, and Giovani Vinci, right? Maybe not so much.
Discussing that very topic in an interview with Andrew Spoors of WrestleSphere, Dragunov threw cold water on that idea, suggesting that a pairing with Imperium simply doesn't make sense from a character standpoint.
“My question to this is honestly, who would actually want this?” Ilja Dragunov said via Fightful. “There couldn't be more differences between Imperium and me. Those guys are very cold, very stoic, very methodical. I'm a completely unbalanced super intense mad dragon. That's the person I am. They don't fit together. Who wants to see something that is not fitting together?”
On paper, it's hard to really argue with Dragunov's point because it is a fair one; Gunther runs his Imperium with an iron fist, with the faction rarely showing much emotion inside the ring or out of it. Though Dragunov can be pretty cold and calculating, as NXT fans will recall his angle with Dijak where the duo effectively went into a pain-off to see who could absorb more damage, his act is incredibly passion-based, with the “Unbesiegbar” driving his pursuits off of a “fighting spirit” typically reserved for wrestlers in Japan.
Could the two sides make it work either indefinitely or for six-ish months before Dragunov starts to rebel and Paul “Triple H” Levesque gives fans another running of their very successful storyline from NXT UK and wXw? Potentially so, but for now, it would appear Dragunov is more worried about his forthcoming championship match with Carmelo Hayes at The Great American Bash, and Gunther has questions about his own faction moving forward.
Gunther has thoughts on Imperium's membership but not on Ilja Dragunov.
Speaking of Gunther and the uncertainty surrounding the members of his Imperium faction, the “Ring General” recently stopped by WrestleBinge to talk about his current run on RAW and the recent developments surrounding Giovani Vinci, who has been in the dog house as of late due to his lackluster efforts.
Though Gunther wasn't looking to make a huge announcement on the podcast, he did note that when a performer fails to deliver, there can be consequences – take with that what you will.
“Well, that’s to be determined, I guess, how things go,” Gunther said via Fightful. “Especially us in Imperium, everybody in there wants to be the absolute elite and wants to be at the absolute top. Sometimes, when you fail to deliver that, there are consequences for that, and it’s on you to make up again for that situation. So far, this hasn’t happened. We haven’t Gio in action since then. But that’s the situation right now. It’s not about personal or any other emotional stuff. It’s about the performance in the ring. It’s about the results. When the results are positive, the relationship is positive, and when they are negative, then everything else is negative as well.”
Asked if Imperium had ever considered adding a women to the group, either as a fourth member or in place of Vinci should his time with the group come to an end, Gunther said no, but he did name two performers he would consider should the need arise.
“We get asked often if we want additional members or something,” Gunther said. “I think no, we’re good how we are. But I think if we have to choose someone, I think it would either be IYO or Charlotte, I would think.”
Would IYO SKY or Charlotte Flair really fit in Imperium? I mean, probably not, especially with Lyra Valkyria sitting right there, but hey, all of this talk of adding and subtracting members from Imperium does make you wonder if there could be some fire under all of this smoke one way or another.
