[SPOILER] he is rumored to return to WWE SmackDown

In his preview tonight Smack downmy guy Cain Knight was wondering if we would get a United States Championship match with Sami Zayn on the October 17 episode. Zayn defended his red, white and blue belt in seven consecutive episodes before this week’s.

Among other things, Bodyslam.net’s paid spoiler report for tonight’s show in San Jose, California, lists a US title match for Zayn. If they’re right about who answers Sami’s latest challenge, it will be the first time we’ve seen this former NXT titleholder in over a year.

The title warned you of a possible SPOILER, but we’re giving you one last chance.

Okay…according to Bodyslam, Ilja Dragunov will face the United States Champion on SmackDown. Dragunov has been out since September 2024 due to a knee injury he suffered fighting longtime rival Gunther on a home show. Around SummerSlam, it was said that he was cleared and awaiting creation. Now, on a show rife with other injury concerns, we’ve learned the 32-year-old Russian will be back.

Dargunov/Zayn have only wrestled once, last year on Raw for the intercontinental belt that Sami held at the time. It ended in a no contest. Tonight seems like a good time to go back and start rediscovering the frenetic, hard-hitting wrestling that brought NXT and NXT UK Champions Ilja back to our screens on a regular basis.