Damian Priest Prevents Aleister Black from Winning Gold on 10/24 WWE SmackDown

On the October 17th, 2025 episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown, Ilja Dragunov made his return. He was out for over a year with an ACL injury, which frustrated both him and the fans. However, when he did return, everyone in the arena erupted with cheers. He didn’t just return to a normal match.

For weeks, Sami Zayn had open challenges for his United States Championship. Dragunov answered the call and ended up winning the championship on his first night back. The following week, he announced he was going to continue Zayn’s tradition. That’s when Aleister Black and his wife, Zelina Vega, answered his challenge. Was Black going to be successful in winning, or did Dragunov retain his championship?

Damian Priest Continues His Rivalry with Aleister Black

Even though Dragunov had the champion’s advantage, he didn’t have the numbers advantage. Accompanying Black to the ring was his wife, Zelina Vega. The two formed an onscreen partnership, which is a great decision. A two against one fight will undoubtedly benefit the wrestler with an extra person behind them.

But since men and women can’t fight each other, the best Vega could do was take Dragunov’s eye off of Black and distract him. The match began, with both men using their unique styles of offense to their advantage. Things were neck and neck until Vega decided to take matters into her own hands.

As Dragunov was lining up for the H-Bomb, she grabbed onto his leg, making him fall. That was going to set up Black for the Black Mass for the victory. He quickly pushed Dragunov onto the mat. Vega got kicked out of the match and sent to the locker room. But things would get worse for him in a short amount of time. Damian Priest’s music hit, and he walked out wearing sunglasses. He took them off, revealing burn marks from the fireball attack two weeks ago.