Ilya Dragunov talks winning the NXT Championship, feud with Carmelo Hayes, more

[Chris]

WWE NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov will be defending his gold at night two of NXT Halloween Havoc (Tuesday, October 31) against former champion Carmelo Hayes in a trilogy bout.

The two men are no strangers having competed twice already before. Their first encounter took place at the NXT Great American Bash where Hayes successfully retained his title. However, the title changed hands the second time they met at NXT No Mercy.

I caught with the champion this week which you can watch above on YouTube.

Here's some key quotes:

Winning the NXT Championship

"This feeling is beyond words to be honest. It feels like my destiny is fulfilled. It feels like the right things came into the right place. I am at the perfect mental state right now, the perfect shape right now, I am the best I have ever been. So there's no reason for me to stop, everything that I want to do is a create a reign, that pushes this brand -- NXT -- to the next level."

The Carmelo trilogy

Both the Great American Bash and No Mercy bouts between Dragunov and Hayes were rated ****3/4 stars by our own Dave Meltzer.

Dragunov explained that what made those performances "absolutely special" was the investment from the fans, and that both he and Hayes pushed themselves to another level.

"We created something that really pushes this championship. It shows how important this is. We presented a fight. We presented something that pushes things to the next level, because we both wanted to be champion, and we wanted to push things to the next level. Only one of us could survive. I was the one who survived."

Dragunov said he wasn't surprised by the in-ring chemistry he shares with Hayes, given that he was one of the guys he has wanted to wrestle for a while.

"I remember the first time I met him was back when I wrestled Gunther and won the NXT UK Championship. I knew that this guy at the moment was probably at the finals of the Breakout Tournament and you could already feel at this moment that he has a certain aura about him. Only a few people have a certain aura about them right at the start of their WWE careers. The way he progressed, the way he made a name for himself, the way he presented himself in all his performances. He was a person I wanted to wrestle for a long time and create something memorable with for a very a long time."

NXT pride

NXT had a massive show two weeks ago, stacking up heavily as they competed with AEW that same night. Fans saw Cody Rhodes, John Cena, Paul Heyman and the Undertaker. Dragunov spoke about how special that day was and what it was like behind the scenes.

"...The vibe was very very interesting because everybody felt that there is something historical happening on this day. The people on this brand put so much hard work so we're like creating the best versions of ourselves every single time on TV, getting the attention of the people. And those icons of the business coming to this iconic show, pushing everything to the next level, I think everybody just gets more hungrier for this because we see what's possible. We see what we can achieve together. We can reach our fullest potential, and the whole day just being around people, these people with amounts of pure knowledge, it was a historical, inspirational day at work for the entire brand."

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