>>10359619Drozdov's active wrestling career ended suddenly when he suffered a severe neck injury during a match with D'Lo Brown during a WWF SmackDown! taping on October 5, 1999 at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. Droz, in an interview, states he was wearing a loose shirt during the match. When Brown went for his signature running powerbomb, he was not able to gain a proper grip on him while Droz was unable to execute a proper jump to aid in the lifting of the powerbomb.
Droz landed on his head and fractured two vertebrae in his neck.[11] He was immediately rushed to Nassau County Medical Center, where he underwent hours of surgery to reduce and stabilize the pressure on his injured neck. Because the match was pre-taped, it was not aired to fans during the October 7 broadcast and has never been shown to the public. 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.
Even with intensive medical care, his injury initially left him a quadriplegic with essentially no movement below the neck. Droz has since regained movement in his upper body and arms, as can be seen in a shoot interview online (he holds his right arm up to the camera at one point). However the medical definition of quadriplegia requires only that some impairment exist in all four limbs; many quadriplegics with injuries to one or more lower cervical vertebrae have fully functioning arms but impairment of the fingers.[citation needed]
Fellow wrestler Mick Foley recounts in his 2001 book Foley Is Good: And the Real World Is Faker than Wrestling, that he was at the hospital with D'Lo Brown after the match. Brown was extremely upset at what had happened. Foley tells how Droz (on a stretcher) told Brown not to blame himself and that it was an accident.
In a 2014 interview with Jim Ross for FOX Sports, Droz reiterated that the incident was an accident and that he holds no animosity towards Brown for his injury.[4]
