Ilja Dragunov Says He’s Not The Biggest Fan Of Gimmick Matches – In a recent interview with Fightful, new NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov discussed various topics, including his views on gimmick matches. Dragunov shared his perspective on these unique bouts, revealing why he isn’t particularly fond of them.

“I must say, first of all, I’m not the biggest fan of those kinds of matches,” Dragunov began. He went on to explain that he views his fists, legs, and his entire body as his primary weapons, which he prefers to use in the ring. He emphasized his high pain tolerance, stating that very few things can easily deter him.

“I must say, first of all, I’m not the biggest fan of those kind of matches. Because, like you said, I consider my fists, my legs, everything, my body as a whole as my major weapon, you could say so. They’re the things I like to use majorly. I really only can say that I entirely enjoyed it. I have a high pain resistance. There’s nothing that can easily really bring me down to, ‘Oh, this is something I can’t take.’ So that barely ever happens. Especially this match, it just brought another layer to everything. I think this match especially was a great one in the case of the story that led up to this match and make it reasonable, make it suspenseful. I think, especially certain moments in this match, I felt some moments for the next four weeks. They really made some people, when I re-watched it, really feel uncomfortable. I think that’s the purpose of this match, the purpose of the story. So I really like to remember this performance.”

Ilja Dragunov Says He’s Not The Biggest Fan Of Gimmick Matches