NXT TakeOver 36: Ilja Dragunov Dethrones Walter for the NXT United Kingdom Championship

Ilja Dragunov defeated Walter in an incredibly violent match at NXT TakeOver 36 on Sunday night, ending the Austrian’s record-breaking reign as NXT United Kingdom Champion. Dragunov put the big man down with a standing rear-naked choke, forcing the champ to quickly tap once he was hoisted off his feet.

Walter’s reign had eclipsed 870 days heading into Sunday night, making him the longest-reigning champion in modern WWE history by a wide margin. “The Ring General” first won the title at NXT TakeOver: New York in April 2019 against Pete Dunne, then successfully defended it against Dunne, Travis Banks, Tyler Bate, Joe Coffey, Dave Mastiff, Dragunov, A-Kid, Tommaso Ciampa and Rampage Brown.

The pair were originally scheduled to have their long-awaited rematch in July, but the match was postponed when WWE announced Walter had suffered an undisclosed injury.

Though his appearances in the United States have been few and far between, WWE officials hold Walter in incredibly high regard. Triple H went so far as to compare him to “The Beast” Brock Lesnar earlier this year.

“It is tough to bet against Walter,” he said while on The Bump back in January. “Anyone who has watched him over the last few years, anyone who has recently watched him against Ilja [Dragunov], one of the most physically imposing, physically dominating performers out there. There’s no wasted movement, he’s not flashy, he doesn’t care about how it looks, he’s just effective. That said, you’ve seen it in the past with other talent like Brock Lesnar.

“Brock has struggled a lot of times with more smaller guys, speed kills,” he continued.”You would watch Brock Lesnar sometimes step in the ring with Daniel Bryan and have a much more difficult time, Daniel Bryan would get much more in because Brock couldn’t strike as hard and as fast, he would have to catch him first and find his way. In that process, he would eat a lot of shots, now it would take a lot of shots from Daniel Bryan’s size to knock Brock Lesnar down, but he ate a lot of shots to get one in. Walter just has to sustain that.”