Ilja Dragunov made a surprise return to WWE television during Friday night’s SmackDown, challenging and then defeating Sami Zayn to win the United States Championship. This was huge for the Russian as he had been out of action for over a year, after tearing his ACL back in September of 2024. And now, indicating that while he has been absent from the ring, he struck a new relationship, recently released NXT talent Jin Tala has seemingly confirmed they are together, having taken to X under her real name to share how proud of him she is.
Tala, real name Leigh Laurel, debuted professionally in December 2024 and, after showing potential on WWE’s LFG reality series, would become part of their EVOLVE brand. Yet despite an outstanding look, it appears WWE didn’t rate her ring work, as she was released in October 2025. Still, while many others in a similar situation would simply give up, Laurel would take to Instagram, vowing to continue her quest by proclaiming, “I’m not giving up, Jin Tala may be no more. But Leigh Laurel has always been a fighter.”
