It was a bombastic AEW debut for Ilja Dragunov this past Saturday at WrestleDream, as the former WWE's stars orchestra esq entrance arguably did just as much to establish him as any regular old wrestling match would have. And before he makes his in-ring debut on "Dynamite" against "Speedball" Mike Bailey, Dragunov has taken people through how his debut came together. During an appearance on "The Ariel Helwani Show," host Ariel Helwani raved about the entrance, and asked Dragunov whether it was he, AEW, or both that came up with the idea. According to Dragunov, it was a mixture of both."Since the works has begun, it has been always a collaboration," Dragunov said. "It has been always working together. So all the ideas that came from the company's side, and all the ideas that I had in my mind, creatively, we're just flowing so well into each other. Like, that was such a beautiful procedure to work."Dragunov admitted that the part of the presentation that touched his heart the most was his entrance music, the "Soviet March." The song, created for the popular 2008 video game "Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3," is a special one for Dragunov, due to its importance during the early years of his career."I don't know how many people in the states are aware of that, but when I started my very young, young path in Germany, in independent wrestling Germany, that was my entrance music," Dragunov said. "This guided me through the youngest, youngest years, to my biggest moments that put me on the platform in Europe, got me to the United Kingdom, got me to the States. So so much of my career is based on that music. And when I heard this music and did my entrance on Saturday, at WrestleDream, I felt like a child again in the business. And I was craving this feeling for a very, very long time."If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Ariel Helwani Show" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
