Ilja Dragunov reflects on the October 10th edition of NXT on USA.
The NXT Champ spoke about this special episode of television during an edition of TV Insider. On that night, Dragunov retained the title over Dominik Mysterio, a show that also featured John Cena, The Undertaker, and Cody Rhodes. This episode of NXT went up against AEW Dynamite, which aired on the 10th due to the MLB Playoffs. Dragunov says that NXT is always a competitive brand, regardless of who the competition against.
I treat it the same way I treat competition in general in my life. I have no opinion because for me when I think of competition in regards to me, there is nobody that can do the things I do. I don’t see any competition in that sense. I see the same for the entire NXT brand. I don’t see anyone working in the same way the NXT brand does.
Dragunov later states that NXT wanted to put on an episode of television that fans would remember forever.
We have this working environment where everyone is motivated to evolve constantly, and in a way, that nobody else can copy or reproduce. I think everybody else, especially me as NXT champion, was focused on performing on that night to our very best ability. Also, because those icons were there, we wanted to create something that was memorable and beautiful that people were not going to forget for a very long time.
In a separate interview, Dragunov spoke about the rise of LA Knight on the WWE main roster. You can read about that here.