Franz Schumann
Encyclopedia
Franz Schumann is a retired Austria
n professional wrestler, who was well known for his stint in Catch Wrestling Association
.
named Rene Lasartesse.
Schumann made his wrestling debut in 1985 for Otto Wanz
' Catch Wrestling Association
, where he would spend much of his career there. He would be solely a singles wrestler, until 1989, when he started getting in tag team matches with Wanz, Dave Taylor, and Steve Wright, among others, as his partners. It was in August 1990, that he won his first championship, the CWA World Tag Team Championship
with Mile Zrno, defeating Dave Finlay
and Marty Jones
. He and Zrno would hold the titles until December 1991, when they lost the titles to Dave Taylor and Chris Benoit
.
In February 1991, Schumann wrestled a tour with New Japan Pro Wrestling
, his first time outside of Europe. While in NJPW, he wrestled with the likes of Hiroshi Hase, Osamu Kido
, Shinya Hashimoto
, and Keiji Mutoh
.
After losing the tag team titles, Schumann refocused and became a singles wrestler. In July 1992, he defeated Fit Finlay to win his first CWA World Middleweight Championship. He would vacate the title in December 1992, focusing on his match against Jushin Thunder Liger, later that month. In July 1993, he regained the CWA Middleweight Championship, defeating Eddie Gilbert in a tournament final. His second reign as Middleweight champion lasted nearly a year, before Barry Horowitz
upset him for the title. However, Schumann rebounded and regained the title nearly two weeks later. A year later, he became a double champion, when he defeated Tony St. Clair to win the CWA British Commonwealth Championship. Three months later, he lost the Middlweight title to Paul Roma
. By the end of 1995, he also lost the British Commonwealth title back to St. Clair.
In 1996, Schumann returned to NJPW, to participate in the Best of the Super Juniors
tournament, which was won by Black Tiger II
. He was in 4th place in Block A.
After his Japanese tour, Schumann immediately returned to the CWA. In July 1996, he won his fourth and final CWA World Middleweight title, defeating Fit Finlay. In February 1998, he wrestled in the United States
, to challenge Dan Severn
for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
. Severn won the match and retained the title.
In April 1999, while wrestling for Otto Wanz and the CWA, Schumann opened up a National Wrestling Alliance
territory in Germany, called NWA Germany. As CWA shut down in December 1999, Schumann was free to run his NWA territory full-time in Germany and Austria. He would also wrestle for other German and Austrian promotions as well, making him one of the hardest-working wrestlers in Europe.
However, injuries from his amateur and pro careers were catching up to him, to the point that he couldn't perform at the level he wanted to be. He wrestled his retirement match on October 18, 2002, teaming with Günther Wagner, defeating Aykut Artan and Barish Günay. Upon retiring, Schumann shut down NWA Germany.
In June 2011, Schumann made a one-night return to the ring against fellow former CWA alumnus Karsten Kretschmer, in which he lost via disqualification.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n professional wrestler, who was well known for his stint in Catch Wrestling Association
Catch Wrestling Association
The Catch Wrestling Association was a professional wrestling organization based in Austria and Germany and was founded in 1973. It was formerly run by famous AWA champion Otto Wanz. The CWA featured a traditional brand of mat wrestling mixed with various “Strong Man” competitions...
.
Life and career
Born on December 27, 1960 in Linz, Austria, Franz Schumann had been a natural wrestler, as he had won several national championships in Austria. After a successful amateur career, he decided to become a professional wrestler, and he was trained by a legendary wrestler from SwitzerlandSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
named Rene Lasartesse.
Schumann made his wrestling debut in 1985 for Otto Wanz
Otto Wanz
Otto Wanz is a former professional wrestler and boxer. He made his professional wrestling debut in 1976. He is a one time American Wrestling Association champion and former operator of the Catch Wrestling Association. Among his most famous international opponents were Antonio Inoki, Bull Power and...
' Catch Wrestling Association
Catch Wrestling Association
The Catch Wrestling Association was a professional wrestling organization based in Austria and Germany and was founded in 1973. It was formerly run by famous AWA champion Otto Wanz. The CWA featured a traditional brand of mat wrestling mixed with various “Strong Man” competitions...
, where he would spend much of his career there. He would be solely a singles wrestler, until 1989, when he started getting in tag team matches with Wanz, Dave Taylor, and Steve Wright, among others, as his partners. It was in August 1990, that he won his first championship, the CWA World Tag Team Championship
CWA World Tag Team Championship (Germany)
The CWA World Tag Team Championship was the tag team professional wrestling title in the German professional wrestling promotion the Catch Wrestling Association. It was established in 1988, and lasted until the promotion's 2000 closing.-Title history:...
with Mile Zrno, defeating Dave Finlay
Dave Finlay
David John "Fit" Finlay Jr. is a Northern Irish professional wrestler and road agent. He is perhaps best known for his time in World Championship Wrestling and WWE as an active wrestler and later as a road agent...
and Marty Jones
Marty Jones
Marty Jones is a retired English professional wrestler best known for his work in All Star Promotions throughout the 1980s and 90s. Jones was also responsible for training Darren Matthews. Jones was trained by Billy Robinson....
. He and Zrno would hold the titles until December 1991, when they lost the titles to Dave Taylor and Chris Benoit
Chris Benoit
Christopher Michael "Chris" Benoit was a Canadian professional wrestler whose career and life ended in a murder–suicide...
.
In February 1991, Schumann wrestled a tour with New Japan Pro Wrestling
New Japan Pro Wrestling
is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan, founded by Antonio Inoki in June 1972 and owned by Yuke's since 2005, when Inoki sold the promotion. Naoki Sugabayashi is the current President of the promotion and has held that position from 2007. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it...
, his first time outside of Europe. While in NJPW, he wrestled with the likes of Hiroshi Hase, Osamu Kido
Osamu Kido
is a Japanese professional wrestler that wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling. He participated in the foundation of New Japan of 1972 and the foundation ofUWF in 1984...
, Shinya Hashimoto
Shinya Hashimoto
, was a Japanese professional wrestler. Along with Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh, Hashimoto was dubbed one of the "Three Musketeers" that began competing in New Japan Pro Wrestling in the mid 1980s and dominated the promotion in the 1990s....
, and Keiji Mutoh
Keiji Mutoh
is a Japanese professional wrestler who first gained international fame in the National Wrestling Alliance. He is mostly known for his work as The Great Muta in New Japan Pro Wrestling during the 1990s, but he has also competed in United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Taiwan...
.
After losing the tag team titles, Schumann refocused and became a singles wrestler. In July 1992, he defeated Fit Finlay to win his first CWA World Middleweight Championship. He would vacate the title in December 1992, focusing on his match against Jushin Thunder Liger, later that month. In July 1993, he regained the CWA Middleweight Championship, defeating Eddie Gilbert in a tournament final. His second reign as Middleweight champion lasted nearly a year, before Barry Horowitz
Barry Horowitz
Barry Horowitz is an American professional wrestler, best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation.-Career:Horowitz, who is Jewish, attended Florida State University, where he studied sports nutrition and wrestled...
upset him for the title. However, Schumann rebounded and regained the title nearly two weeks later. A year later, he became a double champion, when he defeated Tony St. Clair to win the CWA British Commonwealth Championship. Three months later, he lost the Middlweight title to Paul Roma
Paul Roma
Paul Roma is a professional wrestler who is known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling primarily as a tag-team wrestler alongside such partners as Jim Powers, Hercules, Arn Anderson and Paul Orndorff.-World Wrestling Federation :Paul Roma entered...
. By the end of 1995, he also lost the British Commonwealth title back to St. Clair.
In 1996, Schumann returned to NJPW, to participate in the Best of the Super Juniors
Best of the Super Juniors
This article is about the professional wrestling tournament. For the South Korean boy band, see Super Junior.The Best of the Super Juniors is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by New Japan Pro Wrestling , typically in May or June...
tournament, which was won by Black Tiger II
Eddie Guerrero
Eduardo Gory "Eddie" Guerrero was a Mexican-American professional wrestler born into the Guerrero wrestling family. He wrestled in Mexico and Japan for several major professional wrestling promotions...
. He was in 4th place in Block A.
After his Japanese tour, Schumann immediately returned to the CWA. In July 1996, he won his fourth and final CWA World Middleweight title, defeating Fit Finlay. In February 1998, he wrestled in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, to challenge Dan Severn
Dan Severn
Daniel DeWayne Severn is an American mixed martial artist and professional wrestler, notable for his success in the early years of Ultimate Fighting Championship tournaments. Severn has fought and wrestled for many mixed martial arts and professional wrestling promotions, including King of the...
for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
NWA World Heavyweight Championship
The National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the National Wrestling Alliance. Its lineage has been traced from the first World Heavyweight Championship, which traces its lineage to Georg Hackenschmidt's 1905 title and...
. Severn won the match and retained the title.
In April 1999, while wrestling for Otto Wanz and the CWA, Schumann opened up a National Wrestling Alliance
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
territory in Germany, called NWA Germany. As CWA shut down in December 1999, Schumann was free to run his NWA territory full-time in Germany and Austria. He would also wrestle for other German and Austrian promotions as well, making him one of the hardest-working wrestlers in Europe.
However, injuries from his amateur and pro careers were catching up to him, to the point that he couldn't perform at the level he wanted to be. He wrestled his retirement match on October 18, 2002, teaming with Günther Wagner, defeating Aykut Artan and Barish Günay. Upon retiring, Schumann shut down NWA Germany.
Retirement
In 2008, Schumann started to suffer a series of health problems, including a stroke and his kidneys were failing. He is currently under dialysis to maintain control of his kidneys.In June 2011, Schumann made a one-night return to the ring against fellow former CWA alumnus Karsten Kretschmer, in which he lost via disqualification.
In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
- German suplex
- Nicknames
- "The Hitman"
- Entrance themesMusic in professional wrestlingMusic in professional wrestling serves a variety of purposes. The most common uses of music in professional wrestling is that of the entrance theme, a song or piece of instrumental music which plays as a performer approaches the ring...
- "The Final Countdown" by EuropeEurope (band)Europe is a Swedish rock band formed in Upplands Väsby in 1979 under the name Force by vocalist Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum and drummer Tony Reno. Although widely associated with glam metal, the band's sound incorporates heavy metal and hard rock elements...
- "I've Been Looking For Freedom" by David HasselhoffDavid HasselhoffDavid Michael Hasselhoff is an American actor, singer, producer and businessman. He is best known for his lead roles as Michael Knight in the popular 1980s US series Knight Rider and as L.A. County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the series Baywatch...
- "No Limit" by 2 Unlimited2 Unlimited2 Unlimited is a Dutch Eurodance/Hi-NRG act formed in 1991. The project was the brainchild of Belgian producers Jean-Paul DeCoster and Phil Wilde, and was fronted by a Dutch duo, rapper Ray Slijngaard and singer Anita Doth. During five years of enormous worldwide popularity, the act scored 16 chart...
- "The Final Countdown" by Europe
Championships and accomplishments
- Catch Wrestling AssociationCatch Wrestling AssociationThe Catch Wrestling Association was a professional wrestling organization based in Austria and Germany and was founded in 1973. It was formerly run by famous AWA champion Otto Wanz. The CWA featured a traditional brand of mat wrestling mixed with various “Strong Man” competitions...
- CWA British Commonwealth Championship (1 time)
- CWA World Middleweight Championship (4 times, final champion)
- CWA World Tag Team ChampionshipCWA World Tag Team Championship (Germany)The CWA World Tag Team Championship was the tag team professional wrestling title in the German professional wrestling promotion the Catch Wrestling Association. It was established in 1988, and lasted until the promotion's 2000 closing.-Title history:...
(1 time) - with Mile Zrno