Ilja Dragunov is not the biggest fan of gimmick matches.
The NXT Champion captured the title over the weekend when he defeated Carmelo Hayes in an incredible match at No Mercy.
In a new interview with Fightful, Dragunov reflected on his last man standing match with Dijak, noting that he is not the biggest fan of gimmick matches.
“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
Elsewhere in the interview, Dragunov discussed his first NXT title match with Carmelo Hayes earlier this year.
H/T to Fightful for transcription
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