Ilja Dragunov marked his return to the ring by dethroning Sami Zayn for america Championship during “WWE SmackDown.”
Dragunov had been out of motion since last September before returning because the seventh challenger for Zayn’s title, with the champion having held a weekly open challenge since dethroning Solo Sikoa at the tip of August.
Sikoa would rear his head towards the tip of Friday night’s bout, with Dragunov and Zayn staging a stiffly contested battle speckled with some specifically brutal spots, and despite moments of the challenger seemingly having the champion beaten, Zayn seemed to be headed for victory; Sikoa emerged, distracting Zayn as he had the Helluva Kick lined up, and the temporary hesitation allowed for Dragunov to get better.
Dragunov then hit the Torpedo Moscow to drop Zayn to the canvas, following up with the H-Bomb downward elbow strike to his prone opponent to secure the winning pinfall, thus ending Zayn’s title run after 50 days. For Dragunov, it marks his first championship since moving as much as the primary roster, adding america title to a resume including reigns with the NXT and United Kingdom Championships at 206 and 319 days respectively.
.@UNBESIEGBAR_ZAR just dethroned @SamiZayn!! 😱 pic.twitter.com/c8DsI8VsIy
— WWE (@WWE) October 18, 2025
He would not have long to have fun the championship win, as Sikoa and the MFTs returned to the ring and took each he and Zayn out. Sikoa then proclaimed that he could be reclaiming what had been lost, bringing gold back to his family, before then themselves being confronted by the Wyatt Sicks. Sikoa ordered his group to fall back to attract an in depth to the segment.