Wrestling fans were shocked on Thursday night when Vladimir Kozlov, real name Oleg Prudius, made a surprise appearance during the latest episode of Impact Wrestling. During this, he would assist Dirty Dango in winning a five-way match to determine the 20th entrant in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet match at Bound for Glory later this month. Afterward, the former WWE star celebrated in the ring with his fellow WWE alumni, with it unknown whether he would be a regular from now on.
WWE signed Kozlov to a developmental deal in 2006, and he made his SmackDown debut two years later. Initially being pushed as a big deal, he would main event shows and work with The Undertaker and Triple H. However, he would end up sliding down the card and was moved to WWE’s version of ECW. Still, he would get a second round on the main roster via Raw, where he formed an odd couple tag team with Santino Marella, which saw the duo win the WWE Tag Team Championships. And while his in-ring career ended in 2012 following a run with Inoki Genome Federation, he did return to the wrestling business in 2021 to do Russian-language commentary for Impact Wrestling.
