{"id":144255,"date":"2025-10-17T21:21:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T01:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=144255"},"modified":"2025-10-20T19:28:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T23:28:14","slug":"ilja-dragunov-shocks-the-world-win-title-on-wwe-smackdown-in-his-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/10\/17\/ilja-dragunov-shocks-the-world-win-title-on-wwe-smackdown-in-his-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Ilja Dragunov Shocks the World; Wins Title on WWE SmackDown in His Return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ilja Dragunov has been on the injured list for a year after a blown right knee. This week on WWE SmackDown<\/a>, Dragunov saw the opportunity and he took it. Sami Zayn was looking for an opponent for his U.S. Open Challenge; however, he wasn’t even slated for the show. Defiant as always, Zayn would march to the ring and demand an opponent.<\/p>\n

After a fake-out from The Miz, whom Carmelo Hayes attacked, Dragunov would officially challenge Zayn for the United States Championship, marking his return after a year away<\/a>. Dragunov was like a house on fire tonight, taking Zayn to the limit. At the conclusion of this match, Zayn would hit Ilja with an Exploder in the corner, trying to set him up for another move to hopefully retain the title. Unfortunately, Zayn would get distracted by Solo Sikoa. This distraction cost Zayn everything.<\/p>\n

Ilja Dragunov would hit a Torpedo Moscow, then end it all with an H-Bomb to become #AndNEW United States Champion in his first match back on WWE. Post-match, Zayn was about to show some respect to his adversary, but MFT would hit the ring and obliterate them. Even Rey Fenix, who came into the odds, would get handed a beating.<\/p>\n

\"A
Photo Credit: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sikoa would get on the mic and say “he told them so,” and that they were coming to take over SmackDown once again. “Uncle Howdy,” Bo Dallas would issue his own warning, essentially telling MFT and Solo Sikoa that they bit off more than they could chew, before The Wyatt Sicks would hit the ring to make their presence felt and stare down MFT.<\/p>\n

More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

Header photo \u2013 WWE\u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0for more on the WWE SmackDown, Ilja Dragunov, and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n

You can check out WWE programming on\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Netflix<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Raw),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>USA Network<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>The CW<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(NXT),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Tubi<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Evolve),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>A&E<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Superstar Sunday \u2013 Rivals, WWE LFG, and Greatest Moments), and\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Peacock<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Main Event, as well as archives and premium live event streaming). Follow WWE on social media to relive top moments and matches on\u00a0<\/i><\/em>YouTube<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>, and catch fast-paced action on X (<\/i><\/em>WWE Speed<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>).<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ilja Dragunov has been on the injured list for a year after a blown right knee. This week on WWE SmackDown, Dragunov saw the opportunity and he took it. Sami Zayn was looking for an opponent for his U.S. Open Challenge; however, he wasn’t even slated for the show. Defiant as always, Zayn would march […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3735,"featured_media":144260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,2192,26,4,3],"tags":[2514,9482,106,8343,9083],"class_list":["post-144255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wrestling","category-smackdown","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-ilja-dragunov","tag-mft","tag-sami-zayn","tag-solo-sikoa","tag-the-wyatt-sicks"],"modified_by":"Marilee Gallagher, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3735"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144255"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144398,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144255\/revisions\/144398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}