Ilja Dragunov marked his return to the ring by dethroning Sami Zayn for the United States Championship during "WWE SmackDown."
Dragunov had been out of action since last September before returning as the seventh challenger for Zayn's title, with the champion having held a weekly open challenge since dethroning Solo Sikoa at the end of August.
Sikoa would rear his head towards the end of Friday night's bout, with Dragunov and Zayn staging a stiffly contested battle speckled with some specifically brutal spots, and despite moments of the challenger seemingly having the champion beaten, Zayn appeared to be headed for victory; Sikoa emerged, distracting Zayn as he had the Helluva Kick lined up, and the brief hesitation allowed for Dragunov to recover.
Dragunov then hit the Torpedo Moscow to drop Zayn to the canvas, following up with the H-Bomb downward elbow strike to his prone opponent to secure the winning pinfall, thus ending Zayn's title run after 50 days. For Dragunov, it marks his first championship since moving up to the main roster, adding the United States title to a resume including reigns with the NXT and United Kingdom Championships at 206 and 319 days respectively.
He wouldn't have long to celebrate the championship win, as Sikoa and the MFTs returned to the ring and took both he and Zayn out. Sikoa then proclaimed that he would be reclaiming what had been lost, bringing gold back to his family, before then themselves being confronted by the Wyatt Sicks. Sikoa ordered his group to fall back to draw a close to the segment.
