| Droz |
In his second showing, Darren Drozdov helped the Legion Of Doom 2000 once more, against D.O.A. in a Chicago street fight. The match was brought to an end when the Undertaker showed up, but Drozdov made a good showing of himself. Darren was soon on his own. He met his good friend Hawk in the Brawl For All tournament, the match ended in a draw.
Darren Drozdov suffered the embarrassment of having his hair cut by Jeff Jarrett. Early in August of 1998, Drozdov got his big chance at a WWF title. With Hawk not up to wrestling, Animal and Darren Drozdov took on WWF World Tag Team Champions, Kane & Mankind. Animal and Drozdov lost after Kane pinned Animal, and soon Drozdov was back to focusing singles matches. He got a rematch with Jeff Jarrett and got some revenge for having his hair cut, by holding Jarrett while X-Pac cut his hair.
With the personal problems of Hawk becoming more clear, Drozdov was made the third member of the Legion Of Doom 2000 and soon became refered to simply as Droz. He made his LOD 2000 debut against the New Age Outlaws - Badd Ass Billy Gunn & Road Dog Jesse James for the WWF World Tag Team Championship. The match was cut short after an attack by D.O.A. From the beginning of his arrival, their seemed to be tension between Droz and Hawk. After Droz lost a match to Rocky Maivia, Droz became irate at Hawk. Droz pleaded his case to Animal, and the two left Hawk in the ring.
Fed up with Droz, Hawk made a challenge. The following night Hawk was in no condition to compete against Droz, and the match never officially got under way. Droz still attacked Hawk, while screaming at him. Animal came out and finally got Droz off of Hawk, but he did not leave before yelling at Hawk to get focused.
Weeks later the Hawk situation came to a head, as Hawk came out during an LOD 2000 match, and climbled the titan tron, threatening to jump. Animal and Paul Ellering pleaded with Hawk to come down, and Droz climbed the titan tron. Hawk and Droz got into a screaming match, and Droz knocked Hawk off the apparatus. WWF announcers did not want to draw conclusions, but it appeared Droz shoved Hawk off on purpose.
In the weeks that followed the incident, Animal seemed unfocused and Droz seemed upset with Animal. Droz lost several matches when Animal could have helped. During one match Hawk came out and hit Droz with the cast on his arm. After the match Hawk said he was going to share a dark secret of Droz's. On Raw Is War, Hawk told the world the it was Droz who was the "pusher". After Hawk's statement he was attacked by Droz, until Animal came to his rescue. Droz threw his hands at them, saying he did not need this.
Soon Droz discarded his L.O.D. attire, and returned to his original look. Now on his own, Droz made a challenge to WWF Hall Of Famer George "The Animal" Steele. Droz quickly defeated the legend, but continued to attack Steele, before Kurrgan, Golga and the Giant Silva came to his rescue. The following week, Droz attacked Kurrgan after their match.
Droz continued his rampage, attacking WWF broadcaster, Kevin Kelly. Steve Blackman came to Kelly's rescue, but Droz soon retaliated by costing Blackman the WWF Hardcore Championship. Droz was given a brief suspension for his attack on Kelly, but returned in a losing effort against Steve Blackman.
Droz was soon joined by another strange individual. During one of Droz's matches, a man leaped from the crowd and helped Droz. At first the television commentators thought the man was a derranged fan, but he turned out to be Droz's personal tattoo artist Prince Albert. In the next several weeks, Droz and Prince Albert formed a tag team.
The team of Droz and Prince Albert began their first major feud with Val Venis. After one match, Droz and Prince Albert pierced the nostril of Venis. An irate Val Venis responded later by tatooing his initials on the rear end of Prince Albert. When Val was double teamed, his old buddy the Godfather came to his rescue. On WWF Sunday Night Heat, the Godfather and Val Venis defeated Albert and Droz. Due to prematch stipulations, Droz and Albert became the Godfather's ho's for a night.
In the following weeks, Droz and Prince Albert positioned themselves among the top teams in the World Wrestling Federation. But their inability to win a tag team turmoil match on WWF Smackdown may have been their biggest loss. Their inability to win cost them a title shot. Soon Droz and Prince Albert focused less on teaming, periodically splitting to wrestle singles matches.
After impressive showings against the Big Show, and various singles victories, Droz earned a shot at D-Lo Brown for the WWF European Heavyweight Championship. Horribly, Droz would be the victim of an unfortunate accident during the match. During the match, which occured during a pre-taping of WWF Smackdown, Droz severely injured his neck after a miscued powerbomb. Droz would become paralyzed from the waist down. Several months after the accident, Droz appeared on WWF Raw Is War in a wheelchair. Droz appeared in good spirits backstage with fellow WWF superstars.
