Tama Tonga addresses his Ilja Dragunov post after it draws attention from Dave Meltzer
In a post published to Instagram, Tama Tonga shared footage from Ilja Dragunov’s WWE run showing Tama no-selling Dragunov’s chops in a match from SmackDown. The video drew attention because it came just days after Dragunov made his AEW debut.
Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com discussed the post, suggesting it resembled a tactic used by Bill Watts and Ole Anderson in the 1980s to promote their own talent by showing footage of WWE stars getting beaten up.
Tama has since addressed the video. Here is what he had to say…
“I put out a post on Dragunov. Boy, it started stirring some sh*t! Am I the only one that thought it was a good post? Great uncle Dave over here said I took it from a playbook. I don’t even read a playbook.”
“Lying ass Davey Boy. Just making up sh*t. I do gotta say, them wrestling news guys, they be direct messaging me. ‘Is this true? Is this real?’ You know what I say? Get the f*ck outta here.”
Before Uncle Dave gets on his podcast he needs to take a 15 minute nap before he gets on"
"I got sources inside WWE, nobody said sh*t, lying ass davie boy just making up shit"
"Them wrestling news guys be in my dms asking me "if this is true" you know what i tell em? GTFO"
— FADE (@FadeAwayMedia) October 21, 2026