Ghost of Gunther’s past to replace Pat McAfee at WWE Backlash? Exploring the possibility

Pat McAfee is set to make his return to the squared circle at Backlash when he takes on Gunther in a one-on-one match. McAfee hasn’t wrestled since the 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble match and hasn’t been in one-on-one action since beating The Miz at WrestleMania 39.

It’s unclear if McAfee has been training for an in-ring return, especially with his busy schedule under ESPN and WWE, as well as The Pat McAfee Show. If he’s not 100% ready for his first singles match in more than two years, it’s going to be a rough night for the former NFL punter.

But what if McAfee is just setting up the return of an injured WWE Superstar, who has a history with The Ring General? Ilja Dragunov has been out of action since September, when he tore his ACL and was ruled out for six to nine months. Going by the expected recovery time frame, The Mad Dragon might be ready to return.

There were reports that he was already training to return at the WWE Performance Center back in January 2025. The Austrian Anomaly and Dragunov share a storied history. They feuded in NXT and NXT UK in 2020.

But if The Mad Dragon is available and ready for in-ring action, it won’t be surprising for Pat McAfee to bring him out and have him face Gunther instead. It also won’t be shocking if McAfee wants a piece of The Ring General, though he’ll be a real underdog against the former World Heavyweight Champion.

Gunther’s history with Ilja Dragunov

There’s a lot of history between Gunther and Ilja Dragunov that has not been explored in the WWE main roster. They already had a feud when The Ring General was performing as WALTER.

Dragunov was the one who ended WALTER’s undefeated streak and submitted him to become the NXT United Kingdom Champion. But their history goes way back in Germany at Westside Xtreme Wrestling.

They faced each other 11 times before WALTER became Gunther, with The Ring General having a losing record of 3-7, with one match ending via a double count-out. On the main roster, he’s 5-0 against The Mad Dragon, though four of those matches came at live events and the other one was a dark match on SmackDown.

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Juan Paolo David has been covering all things WWE for Sportskeeda since 2020 and has eight years of experience in content writing. He holds a degree in Agriculture but has been a fan of pro wrestling since a kid. This love for the entertainment sport led him to write about it.

Juan writes well-researched articles, not only to ensure that he presents readers with correct facts and figures but also because he wants to learn as much as possible about the topics he writes about.

Edge is Juan’s all-time favorite wrestler. He grew up watching Edge and Christian and was a huge fan of their tag team. So much so, that if he could go back in time he would manage the duo. And let them know that he can play their entrance themes with a kazoo!

Besides wrestling, Juan loves to watch NBA or a Dortmund game. He also enjoys watching TV and movies during his free time. He works as a writer in SK’s basketball division.

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