Ilja Dragunov returned in a big way on WWE SmackDown in San Jose, CA. on Friday night, October 17, 2025.
“The Mad Dragon,” in his first appearance back inside of a WWE ring in a year, defeated Sami Zayn in the latest weekly WWE United States Championship ‘Open Challenge’ title defense.
But who made the decision to go that direction?
According to one source, Sami Zayn himself was actually the driving force behind the decision to have Ilja Dragunov defeat him to end his WWE United States Championship reign at just 49 days into his run.
Per the report, Zayn personally pitched the idea for Dragunov to dethrone him, believing it would elevate both the U.S. Championship and Dragunov himself. Zayn has been outspoken in recent months about wanting to restore prestige to the title, and sources indicate he saw Dragunov as the perfect candidate to help accomplish that goal.
It’s said that Zayn made the call himself, viewing the decision as a way to give Dragunov a major spotlight and the momentum needed to solidify his place on the main roster now that he is back in the mix after spending an extended period of time on the sidelines recovering from a bad injury.
Sami Zayn’s 49-day title reign included six successful defenses against challengers that included John Cena, Rey Fenix, Carmelo Hayes, Je’Von Evans, Aleister Black and Shinsuke Nakamura, before ultimately dropping the gold to Ilja Dragunov on the 10/17 blue brand show in “The Golden State.”
For those interested, you can check out our complete WWE SmackDown Results 10/17/25 here at WrestlingHeadlines.com.
(H/T: BodySlam.net)
