Last Friday’s episode of SmackDown featured the long-awaited return of Ilja Dragunov to in-ring action. After being out for more than a year, The Mad Dragon defeated Sami Zayn to win the United States Championship on his first night back.
Following his huge win, former WWE wrestler Jin Tala, now known as Leigh Laurel, confirmed that she is in a relationship with Dragunov. She shared several posts on X showing her support for him and expressed how proud she was of his comeback and success.
While many fans were happy about the news, one fan stirred controversy online after the couple went public. They accused Dragunov of cheating on his ex-wife, posting:
“This is your hero, @UNBESIEGBAR_ZAR, who cheated on his wife with @leighlaurel and got the US Title for it #SmackDown.”
The fan even used an old WWE video package from Dragunov’s NXT UK days, which featured his ex-wife, as supposed evidence of the claim.
Leigh quickly shut down the rumors by replying:
“His ex-wife and I are on amicable terms. They have a healthy co-parenting relationship. They are divorced. I won’t stand for defamation so cut out your factitious assumptions.”
In another tweet, she added:
“I could let these comments go without needing to prove what kind of people we are, or I can inform you not to mess with the type of people we are. PERIOD.”
Why Ilja Dragunov Won The U.S. Title On SmackDown
On SmackDown, The Miz was talking to Nick Aldis and Sami Zayn showed up. Sami questioned why his U.S. Title open challenge wasn’t scheduled for the show. Aldis said he was hoping to give Shinsuke Nakamura a rematch after what happened last week, but Nakamura wasn’t there. Zayn said the United States Title means a lot to the fans and hungry wrestlers, so he’s going out to issue a challenge.
Sami came out for his open challenge and The Miz came out. Miz said he’s so sick of these open challenges. Carmelo Hayes attacked Miz from behind. Ilja Dragunov then made his return to answer the challenge.
Dragunov went on to defeat Zayn to win the United States Championship. Solo Sikoa came out during the match and that distracted Sami for a few seconds. Corey Graves mentioned on commentary that this is the reason Sami lost.
According to Bodyslam, Sami pitched the idea of Dragunov defeating him for the title in his return match, as he believes this decision would boost Dragunov’s career and help him gain huge momentum.
Triple H obviously agreed with Sami. WWE pulled shockers on both SmackDown and RAW (The Vision kicking out Seth Rollins) as they plan to improve the TV product.
