WWE’s Tama Tonga Responds To Claims He Took a Shot at Ilja Dragunov After AEW Debut
WWE’s Tama Tonga Responds To Claims He Took a Shot at Ilja Dragunov After AEW Debut
Vishal BhawaniThu, October 22, 2026 at 2:17 AM UTC
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Photo Credit: WWE
Tama Tonga has responded after his social media post featuring Ilja Dragunov sparked speculation about a possible dig at the former WWE star following his AEW debut.
The WWE wrestler has now addressed the conversation. He made it clear that his intentions may have been far less calculated than some observers suggested.
The controversy began when Tonga shared footage from SmackDown showing him absorbing Dragunov’s chops without selling their impact.
The timing attracted attention because Dragunov had recently appeared in AEW.
Tama Tonga dismisses Dave Meltzer’s Ilja Dragunov theory
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed Tonga’s post and questioned whether it was intended as a message to Dragunov. However, Meltzer acknowledged he did not know the reasoning behind the upload.
“I don’t know if he was trying to get brownie points or someone told him to do it — I couldn’t tell you,” Meltzer said.
He also compared the move to promotional tactics used by Bill Watts and Ole Anderson during the 1980s, when footage of wrestlers being beaten were used to promote competing promotions.
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“It’s like out of the Bill Watts, Ole Anderson playbook of the ’80s,” Meltzer explained.
Tonga subsequently addressed the discussion on social media. He suggested that people were reading too much into a clip he simply considered worth sharing.
“Am I not the only one who thought it was a good post?” Tonga asked, before jokingly referring to Meltzer as “Great Uncle Dave.”
He then rejected the suggestion that he had borrowed an old promotional strategy. “Great Uncle Dave over here said I took it from a playbook. I don’t even read a playbook, bruh,” Tonga said.
"I put a post out about Dragunov and it started some sh*t" – Tama Tonga On Twitter byu/PrinceJohn_ inSquaredCircle
Tonga also pushed back against wrestling reporters who contacted him seeking confirmation about the post, telling them to “get the f*ck outta here.” He accused Meltzer of making things up, while insisting nobody inside WWE instructed him to publish the footage.
Neither the timing of the post nor Meltzer’s comparison establishes that Tonga intended to take a shot at Dragunov. For now, Tonga has dismissed the theory, leaving the online speculation without confirmation.
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The post WWE’s Tama Tonga Responds To Claims He Took a Shot at Ilja Dragunov After AEW Debut appeared first on Wrestlezone.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
