Furnas debuted in hardcore wrestling promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in 1996. After losing to Rob Van Dam at Natural Born Killaz in August 1996, Furnas refused to show respect and suplexed RVD across the ring. Deciding that he wanted to teach Furnas about respect, RVD challenged him to a tag team match at When Worlds Collide II. Furnas brought in Kroffat, while Van Dam chose Sabu as his partner. Sabu and Rob Van Dam had been feuding all year, but worked very well together. The two teams had a great series of matches, regarded as some of the best in the company's history. Not long after, Furnas and Kroffat left ECW. World Wrestling Federation (1996–1997) Dan Kroffat renamed himself "Phil LaFon". Furnas and LaFon signed contracts with World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and made their pay-per-view (PPV) debut as faces at Survivor Series 1996, participating for the first time in a WWF ring in a Survivor Series match where they teamed with The Godwinns (Henry and Phineas) against WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart and British Bulldog and New Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Leif Cassidy). Furnas and LaFon were the survivors, last pinning tag champions. As 1997 began, they began a feud with Hart and Bulldog over the tag titles, due to having pinned the champions. They got a title shot at Final Four and won the match by disqualification after Owen hit LaFon with his Slammy as Bulldog had LaFon in the powerslam. Though Furnas and LaFon won the match they did not win the titles because a title cannot change hands by a DQ. After this feud, they began a rivalry with the Legion of Doom, turning heel in the process. In the summer of 1997, Furnas and LaFon were in a car accident which kept them out of action for several months. They returned in the fall of 1997 where they teamed with the British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart as a part of Team Canada at Survivor Series 1997 against Team USA (Vader, Goldust, Marc Mero, & Steve Blackman). LaFon would be the second eliminated from Team Canada by Vader while Furnas was able to eliminate Mero before he was eliminated by Vader. Bulldog would be the sole survivor. After Survivor Series, Furnas and LaFon would make a few more appearances mostly on Shotgun Saturday Night with one match being against the then-unknown Hardy Boyz before being