WWE Men’s US Champ Ilja Dragunov Says Open Challenges Will Continue Ahead Of SmackDown

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WWE has a new men’s United States Champion, but as it turns out, the dethroning of Sami Zayn will not result in the end of his regular open challenges for the title. Upon arriving in Tempe, Arizona, for tonight’s “WWE SmackDown, new champion Ilja Dragunov announced he would continue the tradition maintained by Zayn.

“I won this belt from a great man, a great fighter, a great champion,” Dragunov said in a clip posted to WWE’s X (formerly Twitter) account. “It is my duty to keep the legacy of the open challenges alive, so tonight, dear friends and enemies, pain shall entertain you!”

“It is my duty to keep the legacy of the open challenges alive.”

New United States Champion @UNBESIEGBAR_ZAR is looking for a fight, who will step up TONIGHT on #SmackDown?

📺 8e/7c on @USANetwork pic.twitter.com/0E9BOFKJX7

— WWE (@WWE) October 24, 2025

The legacy in question isn’t to be taken lightly. Zayn won the men’s US title from Solo Sikoa back on August 29 and instituted the open challenge the following week on September 5, with his first opponent being the man who made the US title open challenge famous a decade ago in 2015, John Cena. Zayn may only have held the title for a couple months, but he defended it every single Friday during that period, retaining the belt in matches against Cena, Rey Fenix, Carmelo Hayes, “WWE NXT’s” Je’Von Evans, Aleister Black, and Shinsuke Nakamura before finally losing it to “The Mad Dragon.” As of this writing, there’s been no word as to who Dragunov might face tonight on “SmackDown,” but a rematch with Zayn is certainly possible after their critically acclaimed performance last week. It should also be noted that at least two members of the “NXT” roster preparing to compete on the Halloween Havoc PLE this weekend — current NXT men’s North American Champion Ethan Page and former NXT Champion Trick Williams, who has history with Dragunov — are reportedly already in the Tempe area.

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