Ilja Dragunov Not A Fan Of Gimmick Matches

Ilja Dragujnov believes that his wrestling ability is his most dangerous weapon.

The new NXT Champion is looking for his next challenger after defeating Carmelo Hayes at No Mercy. Prior to capturing the title from Melo, Dragunov defeated Dijak in a Last Man Standing match at Battleground to end their rivalry.

While many bitter feuds in WWE see the use of weapons and cages to determine who is the best competitor, The Mad Dragon prefers to do things the old-fashioned way.

Speaking with Fightful, Dragunov discussed the Last Man Standing match with Dijak and his high pain threshold:

“I must say, first of all, I’m not the biggest fan of those kind of matches. Because, like you said, I consider my fists, my legs, everything, my body as a whole as my major weapon, you could say so. They’re the things I like to use majorly. I really only can say that I entirely enjoyed it. I have a high pain resistance. There’s nothing that can easily really bring me down to, ‘Oh, this is something I can’t take.’ So that barely ever happens. Especially this match, it just brought another layer to everything.

I think this match especially was a great one in the case of the story that led up to this match and make it reasonable, make it suspenseful. I think, especially certain moments in this match, I felt some moments for the next four weeks. They really made some people, when I re-watched it, really feel uncomfortable. I think that’s the purpose of this match, the purpose of the story. So I really like to remember this performance.”

Ilja Dragunov Has Another Instant Classic At NXT No Mercy

Dragunov’s title-winning match against Carmelo Hayes has gained high praise from the wrestling community, much like their first encounter. Following The Great American Bash, a WWE veteran was very complimentary of the encounter.