the tazmaniac was put out of action by a legit injury for much of 1995. on july 15, during a tag team match 2 cold scorpio and dean malenko delivered a spike piledriver to him, and though he knew it was about to be performed, he did not have time to properly protect himself. as he explained on the dvd documentary "the rise and fall of ecw", "i landed right on my forehead and just jacked my whole neck back and that was it." the neck injury was so bad that, according to tommy dreamer, hospital staff couldn't believe he'd walked into the hospital where he sought help after the match. though he was unable to wrestle, paul heyman continued to pay him per their oral agreement, forging a loyalty between the men.