{"id":35643,"date":"2019-01-16T20:50:53","date_gmt":"2019-01-17T01:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=35643"},"modified":"2019-01-16T20:59:34","modified_gmt":"2019-01-17T01:59:34","slug":"ilja-dragunov-pulled-from-defiant-shows-nxt-uk-to-blame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2019\/01\/16\/ilja-dragunov-pulled-from-defiant-shows-nxt-uk-to-blame\/","title":{"rendered":"Ilja Dragunov Pulled From Defiant Shows: NXT UK To Blame?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Defiant Wrestling\u00a0<\/strong>has announced that\u00a0<strong>Ilja Dragunov\u00a0<\/strong>will no longer be able to work their shows in February.\u00a0 The company has reportedly been placed on a &#8220;no fly\u00a0zone&#8221; of sorts for NXT UK talent, which Dragunov has been rumored to join,\u00a0 leading to speculation that Dragunov will join NXT UK.\u00a0 It has been rumored for a while now that the\u00a0<strong>Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw)\u00a0<\/strong>star would be joining NXT UK (<a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2018\/11\/05\/several-european-indie-stars-at-wwe-tryouts-in-germany\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">following a WWE tryout last year in Germany<\/a>) to join his former rival\u00a0<strong>WALTER\u00a0<\/strong>and other wXw alumni\u00a0<strong>Marcel Barthel <\/strong>(known as Axel Dieter Jr in wXw) and <strong>Killer Kelly<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, Ilja Dragunov is no longer able to compete on his scheduled Defiant dates in February.<\/p>\n<p>As a result we are removing a segment on this week\u2019s Loaded (taped January 5), meaning a slightly shorter episode will air this Sunday. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/l2cfrGcTtC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/l2cfrGcTtC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; DEFIANT Wrestling (@DEFIANTwres) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DEFIANTwres\/status\/1085671303749742592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 16, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>So who is Ilja Dragunov?\u00a0 He is a 25-year-old Russian wrestler who has implemented some interesting characteristics into his wrestling persona.\u00a0 He is an intense man who believes in never giving up and being <em>Unbesigbar! <\/em>(German for invincible).\u00a0He made his name in wXw where his story and dedication to his family, which made him miss out on bookings, as well as this intensity made him the most over man in company\u00a0history.\u00a0 He made headlines with a surprise return at\u00a0<strong>16 Carat Gold\u00a0<\/strong>this year which is regarded as one of the biggest pops in decades.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ilja Dragunov&#039;s sensational return to wXw at 16 Carat Gold 2018\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CpMuOIYF1w8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If he is joining NXT UK then they are getting a unique and different performer, who has obvious star potential.\u00a0 A clash with old rival WALTER, a rematch with\u00a0<strong>Pete Dunne\u00a0<\/strong>and many other first time matches await Dragunov should he join NXT UK.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Longest chant in wrestling history: Bobby Gunns vs. Ilja Dragunov (wXw 2018)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OkbumyeQtI8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Defiant Wrestling\u00a0has announced that\u00a0Ilja Dragunov\u00a0will no longer be able to work their shows in February.\u00a0 The company has reportedly been placed on a &#8220;no fly\u00a0zone&#8221; of sorts for NXT UK talent, which Dragunov has been rumored to join,\u00a0 leading to speculation that Dragunov will join NXT UK.\u00a0 It has been rumored for a while now [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2013,"featured_media":35647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_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":[2,13,22],"tags":[2453,2514,2868],"class_list":["post-35643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international","category-wxw","tag-defiant","tag-ilja-dragunov","tag-nxt-uk"],"modified_by":"Jamie Greer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35643","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\/2013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}