Because Ilya Dragunov made his AEW WrestleDream debut Much has been made of the wait he’s had to endure this past weekend his visa needs to be extendedwith Dave Meltzer even suggesting it Dragunov’s former employer WWE made the process difficult. Dragunov did not address that aspect of the story when he spoke “The Ariel Helwan Show” Tuesday afternoon, but he didn’t hesitate to talk about the rest of the process that prevented his AEW debut from happening sooner.
“I mean, it’s not the first time I have to apply for a visa in the USA,” said Dragunov. “That part was already quite familiar to me. But of course, since all I want to do is work, fight and perform, I just couldn’t wait for things to happen faster. But from the company side, they helped me in the process in every possible way. So it was absolutely smooth. I think it took about a month, which was still too fast for me, but…
Dragunov confirmed AEW owner Tony Khan’s earlier story that he found out his visa was ready at midnight in Germany, revealing that he was fortunately ready to talk to his girlfriend, wrestler Lady Lei, who is on tour in Japan at the time. Checking his email and realizing his passport had been stolen, Dragunov sprang into action.
“I immediately thought: “Okay, if I can get my passport today, I can go back to the states today,” because you travel, sort of, back in time if you come from Germany to the states, Dragunov said. “So I contacted the company, everything happened very quickly. Everything was booked and I was back in the states in about seven hours. And that’s the perfect way for me because I didn’t want to… wait another second.”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “The Ariel Helwan Show” and credit ah/t Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
