[13] On 14 May 2018 at Super Strong Style 16, wXw general manager Christian Michael Jakobi arrived in Progress Wrestling, and challenged Pete Dunne to a match with Dragunov at an undetermined date.
[17] During Progress' tour of Germany, at the Oberhausen show, Dunne called out Dragunov, following British Strong Style's win over Rise (Ivan Kiev, Lucky Kid and Pete Bouncer).
[33] On the 15 May episode of NXT UK (taped 19 April), Dragunov made his debut for the brand as a face, defeating Jack Starz.
[36] On 31 August, at NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff, Dragunov answered Cesaro's open challenge in a losing effort.
Following the win, Wolfe applauded Dragunov, which turned into a brief staredown with the Russian when Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner joined him.
However, it did not turn into a fight, as Barthel and Aichner walked past Dragunov for their match against The Hunt (Primate and Wild Boar), while Wolfe took him to the back, presumably to convince him to join Imperium.
Although he got some offence in on Wolfe, he was mostly overpowered by the other members of Imperium, including a call back to the 2017 wXw 16 Carat Gold final with its leader Walter.
Following the negotiations, Walter told Dragunov that he had made a really bad decision, and the Russian was ambushed by the other members of Imperium before being powerbombed by Wolfe through a table.
After the match, the other two members of Gallus appeared in order to commit a post-match assault on the Russian, but Coffey stopped them and informed Dragunov that he had paid his debt and that matters were now settled.
[50] Due to the United Kingdom's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, NXT UK was put on hold and was relaunched in September, being filmed behind closed doors at Here East.
[53] On 22 October episode of NXT UK, during the contract signing segment, Dragunov was stopped from finishing his catchphrase as he was struck in the face by Walter, who then tore his shirt off and started chopping him.
[54] On 29 October episode of NXT UK, he was defeated by Walter by referee stoppage, due to him passing out after being put in a rear naked choke.
[58] WWE were quick to capitalize on this, uploading a playback video eight days after it aired, with commentary by Shawn Michaels, William Regal, Wade Barrett, Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, Cesaro, Tyson Kidd, Killian Dain and Drake Maverick.
On 4 March episode of NXT UK, their first match initially ended by referee stoppage and was changed to a win for Gradwell by disqualification, as Dragunov kept attacking him after the bell.
The bout was cut short due to referee stoppage, but this was legitimate instead of scripted, as Mastiff actually had his nose broken, and the storyline of Dragunov's matches ending in this way was scrapped.
In the main event, Dragunov was distracted by Walter turning up, leading to him being defeated by Dunne, who countered the Torpedo Moscow with a forearm, followed by The Bitter End.
[73] On 27 January 2022 episode of NXT UK Dragunov made another successful title defense against Jordan Devlin in an empty arena match.
[76] On 22 October, Dragunov fought Breakker and McDonagh in a triple threat for the NXT Championship at Halloween Havoc, but was unsuccessful.
[a][79] On Night 2 of NXT: Halloween Havoc on 31 October, Dragunov defeated Hayes in a rematch to retain his title, but was attacked by Baron Corbin after the match.
[85] On the 8 April edition of Raw, Dragunov made his main roster in-ring debut defeating Shinsuke Nakamura.
[87] At Week 1 of Spring Breakin' on 23 April, Dragunov lost the title to Williams, ending his reign at 206 days in what would be his final match in NXT.
[89] Dragunov entered the King of the Ring tournament where he defeated then-Speed Champion Ricochet in the first round but lost to Jey Uso in the quarterfinals.
[90][91] On the 15 July episode of Raw, Dragunov fought Sami Zayn for the Intercontinental Championship to a no-contest after Bron Breakker's interference.