Former WWE performer and NFL player Darren Drozdov a.k.a. Droz has died at the age of 54.
The news was reported on Friday afternoon that the former wrestler had passed away, although no cause of death has been shared yet.
Drozdov’s in-ring career came to an end during a match with D-Lo Brown on October 5, 1999, when he was dropped during a running powerbomb and fractured two vertebrae, and became a quadriplegic.
Born April 7, 1969, Drozdov was an All-State football player in high school and attended the University of Maryland where he played defensive tackle.
In 1993, he played six games with the Denver Broncos with one infamous scene where he vomited on the football during a game on Monday Night Football. This unique trait would be exploited in professional wrestling and led to a memorable scene in the 1999 documentary Beyond the Mat where he was unable to vomit on command inside of Vince McMahon’s office.
He played one game for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 1996 before making the transition to professional wrestling in 1998.
He started out with the WWF and was farmed out to ECW in his first few months while also working dark matches for the WWF. Later that year, he was associated with L.O.D. 2000 and was used as a wedge between Hawk and Animal during a storyline where Hawk’s addiction issues were used on screen. The angle was heavily criticized because of Hawk’s legitimate issues and involved a stunt where Hawk climbed on top of the Titan Tron and it was played up that Droz pushed him off rather than trying to help.
Droz and Animal continued to team but the angle ran its course and Droz was separated from the group by 1999 and put on his own for several months. Later in the year, he began teaming with Prince Albert (Matt Bloom). The two were part of a Tag Team Turmoil Match at SummerSlam that year, which was won by The Acolytes.
He was a regular on Sunday Night Heat and Jakked when the injury occurred during a SmackDown taping at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York.
While D-Lo Brown was devastated about the injury, Drozdov never blamed Brown and kept a positive attitude despite the life-altering injury at the age of 30.
Drozdov remained employed by the WWF/E for several years with contributions to the website with columns and digital broadcasts.
Drozdov was married to Julie Youngberg, who was a seamstress with WWF, the two divorced in 2005.
We send our condolences to the family and friends of Darren Drozdov.
