By securing a win over Wes Lee in the opening contest of NXT, Ilja Dragunov has officially punched his ticket to No Mercy, where he will challenge for the NXT Championship for the fifth time in his career in WWE's stateside developmental program.

At 29, Dragunov has wrestled all over the world, worked matches against some of the top wrestlers in the world, and even unseated Gunther as the NXT UK World Championship, ending the “Ring General's” run after 870 days of dominance. He's worked at the top, worked under, and even held tag team gold on three occasions in wXw, including a 41-day run with the man then-known as Walter.

So naturally, unless the “Unbesiegbar” becomes the new NXT Champion at No Mercy, it's hard to really see where Dragunov fits into Shawn Michaels' plans in developmental. Sure, he can keep working matches on the undercard, or even challenge Dominik Mysterio for the North American Championship, but isn't the point of developmental to develop and move up to the main roster? If Dragunov isn't going to make his way up to RAW or SmackDown, why keep booking him at all?

Well, in an appearance on Busted Open Radio, fans got a little bit of an answer to that question, as Dragunov was asked about his desire to move up to the main roster and gave a very interesting answer indeed.

“It's always about having a specific goal. I have no opinions. On the other side, I would say, if I were to stay in NXT for a while, it's nothing that makes me unhappy,” Ilja Dragunov said via Fightful. “I'm not in a rush. I entirely enjoy the journey, I entirely enjoy not always knowing everything or seeing everything in front of me. Being surprised, being challenged. The surprise of life in all these journeys is the freshest thing to me. If I know everything it would be goal after goal, that's not what art is all about. This business is performance art, and I'm an artist 100%.”

Is Dragunov really happy to just be in NXT? Or would he like to jump to the main roster now if the opportunity was offered, assuming creative has something good for him? Either way, No Mercy should give fans a good idea of what WWE has in store for Dragunov moving forward, for better or worse.

Ilja Dragunov reflects on his win over WWE's Intercontinental Champ, Gunther.

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Speaking of Gunther, Ilja Dragunov was recently on Out of Character with Ryan Satin and reflected on his certified five-star classics in NXT with the “Ring General.” Though most may simply remember when Dragunov took the title off of the leader of Imperium, Dragunov their entire feud is worth revisiting.

“Those matches sort of, more than anything else, like you said — I wouldn't agree that he is pain because I think I am pain because I'm the person overcoming it every single time. It's not about the person delivering it. It's not the person who brings it, it's the person who endures it and overcomes it. This person can define themselves as pain and pain is my friend,” Dragunov said via WrestleZone.

“When I talked about the most horrible years in my life, just physical-wise, I still don't want to change a thing. I know there will be other years where it's going to be horrible and exhausting and mentally painful too. But if I can take all this pain and put it into the ring, like putting color on a canvas and painting my own picture, creating my own art — which is wrestling — then I do something in a way that nobody else can ever do this.”

In the end, regardless of how much pain Dragunov was in during his run in NXT UK, the “Unbesiegbar” wouldn't change a thing about how his matches with Gunther shook out, as they helped to define his professional wrestling career and cemented the duo together in professional wrestling history forever, which is probably why so many fans want to see the 5-foot-9 Russian Superstar join Imperium moving forward.

“It feels like one of the greatest accomplishments to me because you're standing in the ring with one of the absolute best without any doubt,” Dragunov stated. “If there's one person who made me into this form I am today and this impression the fans have about me, then it was Gunther. No one else. That makes the story about me even more deep and even more connectable… I think a lot of people would love to see that again.”