Droz vs. D'Lo Brown (partially found unreleased footage of WWF wrestling match; 1999)
Droz takes on D'Lo Brown, a precursor match that would leave Drozdov paralyzed a year later.
Status: Partially Found
Droz vs. D'Lo Brown was a 1999 wrestling match that was originally slated for WWF Smackdown. In the match, Brown incorrectly executed a powerbomb finisher, which injured Droz's neck, ending his career.[1] Most footage of this match is lost.
Events
On October 5th, 1999, Darren A. ("Droz") Drozdov wrestled D'Lo Brown in a one on one match during a taping of Smackdown. The match carried on as planned, and in the final seconds of the match, Brown incorrectly executed a powerbomb finishing move. Droz admits that his shirt was loose, so Brown could not get a sufficient grip on Droz to properly perform the finisher.
In any case, all combined 548 pounds of their body weight landed on Droz's head, fracturing two neck vertebrae. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where successful surgery on his neck saved his life, albeit leaving him a permanent quadriplegic. [2]
Post-injury
Droz and Brown reconciled just days after the incident. Both wrestlers understood that it was an accident, and remained great friends.[3] Despite the challenges he faced in later life, Droz maintained a positive outlook throughout, harnessing a tank-like wheelchair which enabled him to live life to his fullest extent.[4][5] He insisted that "Just because I'm paralyzed and stuck in a wheelchair, doesn't mean my life is over. I've learned to live again and my life is far from over."[4] This outlook and ability to overcome difficulties earned him wide praise across the wrestling world.[5][4] On 30th June 2023, Droz passed away, aged 54.[5]
Footage
The match was taped in its entirety, but because the program was Smackdown, the match was taped days before its airing, giving WWF time to edit out inconsistencies (as they had done previously with every Smackdown airing). Because of this, WWF/WWE have withheld the footage of the match, deciding not to release it in any format. However, a few seconds of footage of Droz being taken out on a stretcher after the incident was used in WWF/E's Don't Try This at Home public service announcements from 2001 to 2006.
As with the video of Owen Hart's death, the tape carrying footage of Droz's paralyzing career-ender is currently stored in the WWE Archive, with "instructions never to view, copy, or destroy." [6]
See Also
- AJ Styles vs Kenny Omega (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 2006)
- Alberto Del Rio vs CM Punk vs Dolph Ziggler vs Jack Swagger vs John Cena (partially found master tape footage of untelevised Hell in a Cell match; 2011)
- Awesome Kong vs Melissa Anderson (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 2009)
- Bill Longson vs Whipper Billy Watson (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 1947)
- Blood Circus (partially found Santo Gold film; 1985)
- Braden Walker's "Knock Knock" promo (lost original pre-tapes of WWE backstage segment; 2008)
- Bradshaw vs Christian (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 2001)
- Bret Hart-Hulk Hogan photoshoot (lost professional wrestling promotional photos; 1993)
- Bret Hart vs Tom Magee (found untelevised professional wrestling match; 1986)
- Catch-As-Catch-Can Wrestling (lost early BBC televised professional wrestling matches; 1938-1939; 1946-1947)
- Celebrity Wrestling (partially found ITV professional wrestling reality show; 2005)
- Chowdaheads (partially found unaired professional wrestling cartoon show; 1999)
- Collision in Korea (found professional wrestling event in North Korea; 1995)
- Collision in Korea wrestler sketches (lost North Korean pencil sketch portraits of professional wrestlers; 1995)
- Cultaholic (found debut video of professional wrestling YouTube channel; 2017)
- ECW Anarchy Rulz (lost build of cancelled Nintendo 64 port of professional wrestling game; existence unconfirmed; 2000)
- ECW Arena fire (lost footage of post-hardcore professional wrestling match brawl; 1995)
- ECW at E3 2000 (partially found footage of professional wrestling at gaming trade event; 2000)
- ECW Hardcore TV final episodes (lost episodes of Professional Wrestling Show; 2001)
- FMW at E3 2000 (partially found footage of professional wrestling at gaming trade event; 2000)
- The Game (partially found Disturbed cover of professional wrestling theme song; mid 2000s)
- GFW Amped (partially found unaired professional wrestling show; 2015)
- The Giant's moonsault (lost footage of professional wrestling move; existence unconfirmed; 1990s)
- Girls Gone Wild: Live from Spring Break (found WWE/Girls Gone Wild crossover special; 2003)
- GLOW (lost unfinished final season of Netflix comedy-drama series; 2019-2020)
- Goldberg's pre-television debut matches (lost footage of professional wrestling dark matches; 1997)
- Gotch-Hackenschmidt Match Film (lost world championship match; 1908)
- Gotch-Hackenschmidt Match Film (lost world championship match; 1911)
- Jake "The Snake" Roberts DDTs Hulk Hogan (lost Snake Pit segment; 1986)
- Johnny Gargano vs Velveteen Dream (lost footage of alternate finish to professional wrestling match; 2019)
- Kerry Von Erich vs Colonel DeBeers (lost footage of professional wrestling match; existence unconfirmed; 1988)
- Kurt Angle vs Owen Hart (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 1999)
- The Last Battle of Atlanta (found untelevised professional wrestling steel cage match; 1983)
- Lita's training matches (partially found training videos of professional wrestler; late 1990s-2000)
- Low Ki & Mercury vs Ric Blade & TCK (partially lost footage of hardcore wrestling tag team match; 2000)
- Mark Jindrak in Evolution (partially found unaired vignettes of professional wrestling stable; 2003)
- Mitsuharu Misawa (partially lost death footage of professional wrestler; 2009)
- Owen Hart (lost death footage of professional wrestler; 1999)
- Pat Tanaka vs Rocco Rock (lost footage of "Body Count" professional wrestling match; 1993)
- "Plane Ride From Hell" (lost photographs of drunk wrestler incidents; 2002)
- Radio WWF (lost professional wrestling radio show; 1993-1994; late 1990s-2000)
- Screwed: The Bret Hart Story (lost unfinished wrestling documentary film; 2005)
- Sex University (lost WWE webshow; 2006)
- Shin Nihon Pro Wrestling Gekitou Densetsu (lost build of unreleased Virtual Boy wrestling game; 1995)
- Strange Kentucky People (lost recording of Chris Jericho "tribute"; 1994)
- TNA Impact! 2 (lost build of unfinished professional wrestling game; 2009)
- WCW 2000 (lost work on unfinished PlayStation 2 game; 2000)
- WCW All Nighter (partially lost professional wrestling compilation show; 1994-1995)
- WCW Classics (partially found professional wrestling compilation show; 2000-2001)
- WCW Internet-only Special Events and PPVs (lost audio streams; 1997-1998)
- WCW/nWo Live (lost build of cancelled PlayStation professional wrestling game; 1998)
- WWE 24x7 (lost professional wrestling compilation show; 2007)
- WWE Brawl (lost build of cancelled fighting game based on professional wrestling; 2012)
- WWE Crush Hour (lost build of cancelled Xbox port of vehicular combat game; 2002)
- WWE SmackDown vs Raw Online (lost build of cancelled online professional wrestling PC game; 2010-2011)
- WWE Wrestlemania 36 (lost footage of alternate finishes to professional wrestling matches; 2020)
- WWF Attitude (lost professional wrestling recap show; 2001-2002)
- WWF Backlash (non-existent unfinished Nintendo 64 professional wrestling game; 2001)
- WWF Excess (partially found professional wrestling talk show; 2001-2002)
- WWF In Your House 8: Beware Of Dog (partially found untelevised professional wrestling matches; 1996)
- WWF Livewire (partially found professional wrestling recap and talk show; 1996-2001)
- WWF No Mercy (lost Game Boy Color games based on Nintendo 64 wrestling game; 2000)
- WWF Shotgun (partially found July to December season of syndicated wrestling show; 1997)
- WWF Xperience (found pay-per-view event footage; 1996)
Gallery
References
- ↑ Darren Drozdov Talks WWE Accident that Paralyzed Him 12-16-2014. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
- ↑ Surgery for Paralyzed Wrestler. CBS News. 10-7-1999. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
- ↑ Droz is still not angry at D'Lo Brown for paralyzing him. From Give Me Sport. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Fox Sports reporting on Droz living life to his fullest 15 years after the match. Retrieved 1st Jul' 23
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Wrestling Inc reporting on the death of Droz. Retrieved 1st Jul' 23
- ↑ Droz and Owen Hart tapes inside the walls of the WWE Video Library vaults. 05-23-2013. Retrieved May 2, 2015.