Jump to content

Doug Furnas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 108.27.220.251 (talk) at 08:19, 11 March 2012 (Date). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Doug Furnas
Born(1959-12-11)December 11, 1959[1]
Commerce, Oklahoma, United States
DiedError: Need valid death date (first date): year, month, day
Tucson, Arizona, United States
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Doug Furnas
Billed height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2]
Billed weight243 lb (110 kg)[2]
Debut1986[2]
Retired2000

Doug Furnas (December 11, 1959 – February, 2012) was a American professional wrestler and powerlifter. Furnas worked for, among other promotions, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), and World Wrestling Federation (WWF) best known for being part of the tag team Can-Am Express with tag team partner Philip Lafond. Furnas was also a longtime mainstay of All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Powerlifting

Furnas still holds the men's collegiate national records in the squat (400 kg/881.75 lb) and deadlift (347.5 kg/766 lb) in the 110 kg / 242 lb weight class, which he set on March 26, 1983 while attending the University of Tennessee.[3] He is also one of the few men to achieve a total of 2400 pounds, with a total of 2403 (1090 kg) on June 28, 1987 in Bloomington, Minnesota while competing in the 125 kg/275 lb weight class.[4] Furnas also holds the Tennessee state records for the squat (985 lb), deadlift (821 lb), and total.

Professional wrestling career

Doug Furnas began his career in Continental Championship Wrestling in late 1986, as a "guest" of the promotion during a card at the civic center in Knoxville, Tennessee. He watched promoter Bob Polk get assaulted by Kevin Sullivan, then the manager for the New Guinea Headhunters, until he could bear no more, and injected himself into the situation, effectively beginning his pro wrestling career.

During his run in Continental, Furnas feuded with Sullivan, Buddy Landell, and Sid Eudy's version of Lord Humongous, as well as Terry Gordy. In late 1989, Continental folded, and by that time, Furnas had left to spend time in All Japan Pro Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling.

Furnas briefly worked for World Championship Wrestling in 1990 as a member of a Sting-led group of fan favorites known as the "Dudes With Attitudes" as they feuded with the perennially dominant Four Horsemen stable, led by NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair. Furnas' involvement in the stable saw him wrestle a short series of matches against Flair. In All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Furnas teamed with Dan Kroffat beginning in 1989. Together they formed The Can-Am Express. Furnas and Kroffat held the AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship five times between June 1989 and September 1993 when they vacated the title so they could focus on the AJPW Unified World Tag Team Championship.[5][6] Their title match on May 25, 1992 against Kenta Kobashi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi received five stars from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and was also named "Match of the Year".

Also in 1992, the duo wrestled for Mexico's Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) as The Can-Am Connection. In Mexico, they held the UWA World Tag Team Championship twice, trading it with Los Villanos (Villano IV and Villano V).

The duo joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in mid 1996 where they had a series of matches against Sabu and Rob Van Dam. A few months later, both men made their World Wrestling Federation debuts on November 17, 1996 at the Survivor Series pay-per-view. After failing to get over, they returned to ECW in late 1997, and won the ECW World Tag Team Title on December 5 from the F.B.I..[7] Their reign would not last long, however, as they lost the belts to Chris Candido and Lance Storm the next day. Furnas went on wrestle Masato Tanaka in singles competition at Living Dangerously on March 1, 1998. Furnas came up on the losing end on this particular occasion. He also became one of Rob Van Dam's many unsuccessful challengers during Van Dam's record breaking ECW Television Championship run.[7] It was noted in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, that Furnas, has started to develop an early form of Alzeimer's Disease, which explained him retiring in 2000.

Retirement and death

Upon retiring, Furnas and his wife ran a group home in San Diego for abused boys. He would also raise bucking stock rodeo bulls in his family's farm.

Furnas' body was discovered on March 3, 2012 at his home in Tucson, Arizona; the precise date of his death could not be estimated by the medical examiner because of decomposition.[8] He was 52 years old,[1] The official cause of death was atherosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease.[9] and had been battling Parkinson's Disease for many years prior to his death.[10]

He was survived by his wife, parents, three sisters, one brother, and numerous nieces and nephews. He was divorced once.

Championships and accomplishments

  • PWI ranked him # 138 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 1997
  • USA Wrestling
    • USA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[11]
    • USA Tennessee Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[11]
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

References

  1. ^ a b "Former Vol Doug Furnas, 52, Dies".
  2. ^ a b c "Doug Furnas profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  3. ^ "Men's collegiate National Records" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-12-13. Retrieved 04-05 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  4. ^ Michael Soong. "All time historical power lifting records". Archived from the original on 2007-08-08. Retrieved 04-05 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  5. ^ a b "AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship official title history" (in Japanese). All-Japan.co.jp. Archived from the original on 2007-08-11. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
  6. ^ "AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship title history". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
  7. ^ a b c "ECW Tag History". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
  8. ^ "Doug Furnas Dies In His Sleep". Slam! Wrestling. March 3, 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  9. ^ Oliver, Greg (March 6, 2012). "Cause of death for Doug Furnas revealed". Slam! Wrestling. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  10. ^ "Doug Furnas Reportedly Dead: Former AJPW & WWF Star Battled Parkinson's Disease". Bleacher Report. March 3, 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  11. ^ a b Royal Duncan & Gary Will (4th Edition 2000). Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Doug_Furnas&oldid=481293640"