Droz vs. D'Lo Brown (partially found unreleased footage of WWF wrestling match; 1999)

This article has been tagged as NSFL due to its disturbing subject matter.

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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. 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.

Post-injury

Droz and Brown reconciled just days after the incident. Both wrestlers understand that it was an accident, and are great friends to this day.

Footage

The match was taped in its entirety, but because the venue was WWF 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 technicians have withheld the footage of the match, deciding not to release it in any format. However, the footage of him being taken out on a stretcher has been seen in WWE's Don't Try This at Home public service announcements.

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."

See Also

• Bill Longson vs Whipper Billy Watson (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 1947)
• Braden Walker's "Knock Knock" promo (lost original pre-tapes of WWE backstage segment; 2008)
• 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)
• 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)
• ECW Anarchy Rulz (lost build of cancelled Nintendo 64 port of professional wrestling game; existence unconfirmed; 2000)
• ECW at E3 2000 (partially found footage of professional wrestling at gaming trade event; 2000)
• The ECW Fire Incident (lost footage of post-hardcore professional wrestling match brawl; 1995)
• 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)
• 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)
• 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)
• Kerry Von Erich vs Colonel DeBeers (lost footage of professional wrestling match; existence unconfirmed; 1988)
• The Last Battle of Atlanta (found untelevised professional wrestling steel cage match; 1983)
• Mitsuharu Misawa (partially lost death footage of professional wrestler; 2009)
• Owen Hart (lost death footage of professional wrestler; 1999)
• "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 SmackDown vs Raw Online (lost build of cancelled online professional wrestling PC game; 2010-2011)
• 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

The only footage of the match (at 0:12)

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  Droz's entrance.

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  The failed powerbomb.

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