The Latest on The New Day and Ilja Dragunov Potentially Joining AEW

Are the New Day and Ilja Dragunov AEW bound?

The WWE Universe got a shock to its system back in May when it was announced that Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods of The New Day would depart the company. It was later revealed that WWE wanted Woods and Kingston to take a significant pay cut after signing new multi-year deals the previous year.

A few months later, the WWE Universe got another shock when it was revealed that Ilja Dragunov's deal with the company had expired after the two sides were unable to come to terms on a new deal. The former United States Champion and WWE were reportedly far apart on money, which led to the Mad Dragon departing the company and immediately becoming a free agent.

There is clearly plenty of interest in seeing these performers show up in AEW. But how likely is it that we'll see any of these talents at All In: London this weekend?

The New Day are expected to make their AEW debut at All In: London

The potential move to AEW for The New Day and Ilja Dragunov was discussed on the latest episode of WrestleVotes Radio on Fightful Select. As far as Dragunov goes, a source believes that AEW will inquire about bringing Dragunov into the company if they haven't done so already. It was said that if those talks go smoothly, you could see Dragunov appear soon.

While it appears things are in the early stages between Dragunov and AEW, things with The New Day seem to be much further along. WrestleVotes reports that sources within the company are expecting Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods (Austin Creed) to make their AEW debut this weekend at All In: London.

It was stressed that there is no "stamped confirmation" that this will take place on Sunday. However, two different sources have told WrestleVotes that the internal belief is that the duo is AEW-bound.

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— Austin Creed (@AustinCreedWins) July 29, 2026

Will The New Day be Swerve Strickland's tag partners on Sunday?

In recent weeks on AEW programming, Swerve Strickland has been teasing getting involved in the trios division at All In: London on Sunday.

Earlier this morning, Tony Khan announced a Trios Roulette Royale match for the AEW World Trios Championship. The match will feature seven teams, with one of them being teased as a "wild card" that Khan is still working on putting together.

With Strickland not being announced as one of the six teams, you can bet he will be part of the wild card team that we'll see on Sunday. Will he be standing alongside The New Day in London? We'll find out soon enough.

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