Former WWF Star Ludvig Borga found dead at 47

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source: www.iltalehti.fi

Tony Halme, who wrestled under his real name with New Japan Pro Wrestling in the early nineties, and as Ludvig Borga for the World Wrestling Federation from 1993 to 1994, passed away last night in his native country of Finland. No details are available regarding his cause of death. He was 47 years old.

Halme was a former member of the Finnish Parliament, representing the True Finns party. He was also known by the pseudonym Viikinki he used while appearing on the Finnish version of the television game show American Gladiators (Gladiaattorit).

Though he is best known for his appearances in the WWF under the name Ludvig Borga, he was also an MMA fighter and professional boxer who held the Finnish Heavyweight Championship. In a trivia note, he was Randy Couture’s first-ever opponent. On May 30, 1997, Couture won the match via choke in 57 seconds.

Halme retired from athletics in March 2003 in order to pursue a career in politics.

He celebrated his 47th birthday this past Wednesday.

[Hammy]

[More Cowbell]

Never seen that clip before as far as I remember, he isnt a regonized IC Champ. He was a good bad guy bruiser, but just never seemed to sell it too well in WWF, never gave him a good fued.

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WWE commentator Jim Ross has claimed dead wrestling star Ludvig Borga was selfish and a bully.

Borga, real name Tony Halme, died earlier this month at the age of 47. Police in his home country of Finland have now confirmed that he committed suicide.

After quitting wrestling in the mid-1990's, Tony went into politics representing a very right wing Finnish party and allegedly had a Nazi tattoo.

He also had a number of personal problems, being arrested and even sectioned after his drinking and drug-taking spiralled out of control.

Writing on his blog, JR said: "Been reading a little about the death of Tony Halme aka Ludvig Borga and, including his concealed SS tattoo on his calf.

"I won't speak at length about those that have passed away but Tony obviously had issues and was not a great guy to be around.

"Perhaps others have a different view of this man but I personally found him to be somewhat obnoxious and he could be a bully if allowed to be such.

"Guys like Halme don't mix well in any locker room and need to be removed from the 'team' sooner than later."

Ross added: "I still feel badly about the last years of Tony's life as things really unravelled for him seemingly due to alcohol and drug issues.

"When one competes with 'demons' unfortunately the 'demons' usually win unless one is personally and thoroughly committed to changing one's behaviour.

"Wrestlers with problems of this nature either need to have the problem solved, which takes everyone's best efforts and specifically the individual himself, or have the problem person needs to be eliminated from the equation.

"That might sound harsh but some folks would rather 'catch a buzz' than do the right thing for themselves, their family and the company for which they work. "

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/2823841/Jim-Ross-says-Ludvig-Borga-was-a-selfish-bully.html#ixzz0dkprGiDc

[Hammy]

Every week, the Masked Man, Deadspin's pro wrestling correspondent, honors the sport's fallen and examines their legacies — famous and obscure alike. Today: Ludvig Borga, who died Jan. 8 of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

I'm guessing that Ludvig Borga (1963–2010) wouldn't be tops on your list of all-time great anti-American wrestlers. He's someplace southward of the estimable Colonel DeBeers, Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik, and, hell, probably even the Quebecers, the rather bland bad guys from the frozen north. But there's something about Borga, aka Tony Halme, that encapsulates the entire U.S. vs. Them fetish of the pre-modern wrestling era. Like Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, Borga was genetically engineered with the sole purpose of striking fear in the hearts of an American audience — but not so much fear that you ever really questioned the ending.

The origins of this type of storytelling in wrestling go back to those halcyon days when pro wrestling existed not on cable television but in low-rent coliseums and state fairs, and where without the ability to attach long, developed storylines to feuds, the promoters grabbed onto the lowest common denominators: blond prettyboy vs. diabolical masked man, American vs. foreign aggressor, nice white person vs. angry black person.

The fact that this sort of lazy booking was still going on in the early 1990s, when Borga surfaced in the World Wrestling Federation, probably says as much about our culture as it does about the WWF creative team, but it was nonetheless standard. At the same time, Lex Luger's briefs went from evil silver to red, white, and blue, and that was all it took to get the crowds cheering for him.

And so when Borga debuted in the WWF, entering the ring to the Finnish national anthem and slapping hapless jobbers into his "Torture Rack" finishing hold, even the most thickheaded of wrestling fans knew a confrontation with the newly patriotic Lex Lugar was in the offing.

Revisiting Borga's most notorious match — the All-Americans vs. the Foreign Fanatics at Survivor Series 1993 — is like touring a wrestling morgue. Participants include notable Dead Wrestlers Rodney "Yokozuna" Anoa'I and Bryan "Crush" Adams; Luger, who suffered a spinal stroke and was paralyzed in 2007 (he has since regained some motor function); and Scott Steiner, who tore his trachea in Puerto Rico and was put into a two-week-long induced coma while doctors operated on him. Not an altogether healthy bunch.

Unfortunately, the Luger vs. Borga singles tilt was not to be. Borga hurt his ankle in a match soon thereafter and was never heard from (in WWF storylines, anyway) ever again.

Halme's public life didn't end there, though. As Jonathan Snowden tells it: "Halme also wrote four books and had a gold single, 'Viikinki,' from his first and only album. And, like Finland's version of Jesse Ventura or Antonio Inoki, Halme was elected to Parliament."

That he turned out to be a real-life Finnish nationalist — or, rather, Nativist — is sort of beside the point, as are his alcohol-related arrests, his stint in a mental institution, and the "SS" purportedly tattooed on his calf. He was important to us wrestling fans as a symbol: Evil Personified. Or, at least, Evil Oversimplified.

Ludvig, we'll see you in the fjords of heaven.

DWotW Bonus Trivia: Halme fought MMA legend Randy Couture in his very first match in the UFC.

http://deadspin.com/5454190/dead-wrestler-of-the-week-ludvig-borga