AJ Styles says he was just as surprised as many fans by the news of Ilja Dragunov’s WWE departure.
Reports surfaced last week that Dragunov had allowed his WWE contract to expire, bringing his seven-year run with the company to an end. Speaking on the latest edition of The AJ Styles Show (see video below), Styles admitted he does not know what led to Dragunov’s exit but was disappointed to see him go.
“I don’t know anything about it. I know that I’m very sad about this situation. I enjoy his work very much. So I don’t know what’s going on,” Styles said.
Styles noted that despite working for WWE, his current role does not necessarily give him insight into contract situations involving other talent.
“I can’t say much about it because again you’d think I’d know. I work for the company, but my place is in the coaching and the talent and little things to hopefully help make WWE better and build that foundation for them with the younger talent and stuff like that. So, I don’t know what was going on. I just know ‘Holy crap’. That’s about all I know.”
Styles added that any speculation surrounding Dragunov’s departure will remain just that until Dragunov himself decides to address the situation.
“We’re gonna have to have to wait and see what he says about the situation when he’s able to talk about it. Then we’ll all know the truth because we can speculate everything at what this is. The truth is we don’t know. I’ll be the first one to tell you I thought the guy was awesome.”
