Tonight's episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown featured its fair share of interesting moments. But the biggest surprise of them all was a two-point segment where a new champion was crowned as Sami Zayn lost the WWE Men's United States Championship to a returning Ilja Dragunov!
Earlier in the night, Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair retained the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship titles over ZaRuca (Sol Ruca and Zaria from NXT), and the match between Jacob Fatu and Drew McIntyre was upgraded to have title implications by becoming a No. 1 contender's match (which ultimately didn't happen, and was replaced with Cody Rhodes fighting McIntyre instead). But the real title situation to pay attention to was how The Miz was being set up as the next challenger for Sami Zayn's title.
For several months, Carmelo Hayes was interested in the United States Championship, only for The Miz to keep sidelining him to focus on the tag team titles instead. Their "Melo Don't Miz" team ended a few weeks back, and The Miz attacked Melo from behind. Tonight, The Miz was the recipient of some payback, as Hayes did the same when The Miz was heading out to answer the open challenge.
Instead, Zayn's opponent would be a returning Ilja Dragunov, who was stepping back in the ring for the first time in over a year.
Dragunov's last match prior was September 28, 2024, in a losing effort to Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship on a house show in Columbus, Georgia. His last televised match was a few weeks prior on Monday Night Raw in a Fatal 4-Way final for the #1 contendership of the intercontinental title.
Dragunov was out of action with a torn ACL, but didn't appear to miss a step, and was ultimately able to hit his trademark Torpedo Moscow, followed by an H-Bomb for the win.
Right after the match, both Sami Zayn and Ilja Dragunov were attacked by Solo Sikoa and his MFT faction, before Rey Fenix (who was attacked earlier in the night by them as well) helped make the save, followed by The Wyatt Sicks.
What do you think about Dragunov's return and dethroning Zayn? Who should he drop the US title to and when? Leave a comment below!