At a TNA house show in San Juan on June 3, 2007, Rechsteiner was kicked in the throat by his opponent, Apolo. After he began coughing up blood, he was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a torn trachea and given five hours to live. He was put in an induced coma for two days, while doctors cut through his ribs and lung to repair the tear, then began draining fluid from his lungs for the next two weeks. Unable to fly because the change in air pressure would have caused his lung to collapse, he eventually left on a cruise ship and arrived in mainland U.S. one week later.