Don’t expect a lengthy run at the top in WWE for “The Mad Dragon.”
It isn’t coming.
Dave Meltzer noted during the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio at F4WOnline.com Ilja Dragunov is seen as an ‘interchangeable mid-card guy’ by the guy whose opinion matters most.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque.
“I just think that they’ve got other guys that they got storylines now for and, you know, I mean, it’s like you add some people and some people get lost in the shuffle,” Meltzer stated. “He’s, to them, he, you know, yeah, he’s a unique character, but he is an interchangeable mid card guy. And, you know, I mean, you can do something with him and you can bring him back, but they got a lot of guys like that.”
Apparently Dragunov’s perceived lack of promo ability is the reason for this mindset about him behind-the-scenes among the aforementioned WWE Chief Content Officer and his supporting creative team.
“They don’t see him as a top guy,” Meltzer continued. “They just don’t. He’s never really had the opportunity to be anything more than the guy who, you know, gives you really, really great matches. He’s got a level of intensity that no one else has, which is his calling card. But I think that maybe they feel that, you know, the promos aren’t great, you know, as long-term order promos that the guys that they favor.”
He continued, “He’s very unique, and I think that the fact that he can go out there and bring something out of the crowd because no one else works like that in AEW or WWE, that could be a calling card because he could be memorable and different. It could be the guy where he comes out and you’re going like, okay, we’re going to see an intensity that we don’t get anybody else’s matches because that is what he potentially can bring.”
