Update on Ilja Dragunov's WWE return & reason behind forgotten push for Maxxine Dupri

The Dragon has been absent from programming since April.

Since dropping the United States title against Carmelo Hayes, Ilja Dragunov has largely been absent from WWE programming. In fact, he has been absent from programming since April, and his last in-ring appearance came during the 2026 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal before WrestleMania 42.

Regarding an update on Dragunov’s return to programming, Wrestling Observer‘s Bryan Alvarez reported that the Dragon is expected to return to programming sooner rather than later.

“Ilja Dragunov expected back sooner than later,” Alvarez wrote.

However, the report did not provide any details on why Dragunov has been absent from programming or a specific date for his return. During his time away, he has continued training at Nattie and TJ Wilson’s Dungeon wrestling school.

What happened to the massive push for Maxxine Dupri?

The end of 2025 saw a massive push for Alpha Academy’s Maxxine Dupri, who started feuding with Becky Lynch. Dupri was able to defeat Lynch to capture the Women’s Intercontinental Championship.

However, her reign came to an end after just 49 days, when her mentor Natalya (Nattie) betrayed her, aiding Lynch in the rematch to regain the title. What followed was a feud between Dupri and Nattie, where squash matches spoiled Dupri’s momentum and did nothing for Nattie in the long term.

Dupri once again was limited to sporadic matches and few backstage segments. Although WWE has kept teasing an angle with The Vision’s Austin Theory, Dupri has been spotted with him backstage.

The storyline progressed on this week’s Raw when Theory directly confronted Dupri and questioned her about the comments to Chad Gable. Maxxine admitted the situation was complicated, but Theory disagreed, suggesting that if she wanted to continue down that path, their partnership might no longer work

However, just before the segment, Durpi suffered another major loss to Raquel Rodriguez in a short match, failing to become the number one contender for the Women’s Intercontinental title.

While reviewing Dupri’s match against Rodriguez on Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez said the contest generated “absolutely no heat.”

Dave Meltzer followed up by explaining why the promotion halted the push for Dupri, noting that WWE initially saw significant star potential in Dupri due to her appearance. However, because the crowd never reacted to her as the company had hoped, her planned push gradually lost momentum.

“That’s why we haven’t seen Maxxine as a wrestler. They thought she was a big star because of her looks, and they were giving her the big push, but when she went out, the people didn’t react.

But if you’re in the middle or low, and they don’t react to you, man, it’s f***** for you. That’s what basically hurt her career — the people didn’t react to her matches.”

[H/T: RingsideNews]

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