Ilja Dragunov was asked about the tournament.
All Elite Wrestling is inching closer to the annual Continental Classic tournament. It was brought up to the company’s newest signee, Ilja Dragunov.
Dragunov appeared on the social media show AEW Advance and discussed possibly entering the tournament. While doing so, he brought up his history with the winner of the first-ever Continental Classic, Eddie Kingston. Dragunov said he and Kingston are due to meet in the ring again.
“I mean, it’s possibly one of your favorites for a reason. There is a lot of thought that I have on the Continental Classic because looking back at 2023, Eddie, Eddie Kingston. 2024, (Kazuchika) Okada. ‘25, (Jon) Moxley. I did get it right in the order?” He continued, “This tournament represents mental toughness, because as far as I remember, all these people went through injuries, through setbacks, through really memorable moments, especially with Eddie. A big moment. A big emotional moment. If you know Eddie, it’s a big emotional moment. He’s also a person if you could talk about who I wanna wrestle — back in the day — Eddie, I love you. I love your work — but you still called me an actor, and you still said that you are tired of making stars so, we have some date somewhere and you know that. But anyway, this tournament is representing strength, resilience, and I feel like the landscape of AEW is about to change. Why? Because I am here. So if you talk about strength, about grit, and especially resilience and intensity, and something memorable and emotional to happen, it would be second-hand embarrassing to take away the chance for the people, for me to maybe not be there but I’m not the person to make the decision.”
Ilja Dragunov has a lot of thoughts about entering The Continental Classic as Arkady Aura and Lexy Nair got the exclusive with him on #AEWAdvance 👀 👀 👀 https://t.co/J6aFVrVVPl
— AEW on TV (@AEWonTV) October 30, 2026
Dragunov arrived at AEW at the WrestleDream pay-per-view. To read AEW President Tony Khan’s recount of signing Dragunov, click here.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit the original source with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
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