Ludvig Borga, whose real name is Tony Halme, was a promising professional wrestler in the WWF in the early 90s. He had a bright start in his career, and rumors are that WWF had big plans for his future. Then something happened, and we never saw Borga wrestling again. What ruined this promising WWF career, and what happened to Halme, alias Ludvig Borga? Let’s look at Tony Halme’s wrestling career and what happened after.
Tony Halme started his wrestling career by making his debut for United Wrestling Federation in 1990. His nickname was The Viking, and he ended up having two matches in the UWF. After winning both contests, Halme moved to wrestle in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He had a bright start in NJPW, but after three years, he lost matches more regularly. This lead Halme to leave the promotion in June 1993. Only a month after leaving NJPW, Halme made his debut in the World Wrestling Federation.
Career at WWF
In 1993, Halme started his WWF career as Ludwig Borge. Who later on changed his name to Ludwig Borga. He made his debut in a television taping of the WWF Superstars. Ludvig Borga was a heel Finn who looked down on America because of its deficiencies, like the education system and environmental laws. He was a stereotypical gimmick loved by the crowd at the end of the 80s and the start of the 90s. One of the most memorable things about Ludvig Borga was that he used Finland’s national anthem as his entrance music.
At the start of his WWF career, Borga dominated the match against Tatanka and ended Tatanka’s undefeated streak of nearly two years. After that win, Borga moved from the midcard to the prior event status. The WWF instantly pushed Borga into the spotlight. He feuded with a baby-faced Lex Luger, teamed up with the Foreign Fanatics, and took on the All-Americans. Everything was going better than planned for Borga, and at this point, according to Finnish betting experts from Vedonlyontisivustoni.com, Halme was referred to as the best Finnish wrestler ever. ‘
On January 1994, Borga injured his ankle in a match. Because of the injury, WWF needed to scrap Borga’s planned appearance at the Royal Ramble. WWF also canceled Borga’s scheduled contest in WrestleMania. Soon after that, Halme left the WWF. His WWF career seemed promising, and at some point, WWF even planned for Borga to fight for the championship. Unfortunately, that never happened, and Borga’s WWF career proved to be a short one. Borga was part of WWF for only less than a year.
Life after wrestling
After his wrestling career, Halme has done a lot of different things. He has acted in advertisements and was in a side character role in movies like Die Hard with a Vengeance and Fist of the North Star. He also was in the Finnish version of the game show Gladiators, where his pseudonym was Viking. Halme also wrote five books, created music, and recorded an album. Believe it or not, between 2003 and 2007, Halme was a member of the Finnish Parliament. He was representing the True Finns party as an independent politician. During his parliamentary career, he raised lots of controversies. He mocked Finland’s President Tarja Halonen and embraced lots of racist discussions. That wasn’t a surprise since he already had his racist tattoo on his calf during his WWF times. In 2010, Tony Halme passed away and is now remembered as a Finnish politician, athlete, author, actor, and singer.
