The life of professional wrestlingโs Ludvig Borga is so outrageous the first thought one has is: This couldnโt possibly be true. But, it was all real. Tony Halme โ a professional wrestler, boxer, UFC fighter, actor, writer, and musician before getting elected to Parliament in Finland โ truly lived the "foreign heel" gimmick in his surreal, shocking life.

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“Ludvig Borga” Tony Halme: A Hellraiser From Helsinki
We briefly knew him as Ludvig Borga, but the name inked on his birth certificate and engraved on his headstone is Tony Halme.
Born in Finland, Halme was a man of extremes. Blessed with great physical strength and a menacing charisma, he excelled in arenas of violence. But, it was normal, everyday life he found impossible to navigate.
His greatest foes were his many addictions, mental illnesses, deplorable views, and bottomless rage. Ultimately that rage would turn inward and end his life.
Cutting spiteful promos decrying Americanโs urban centers’ decrepit state, Ludvig Borga was a foil to patriotism.
Naturally, he feuded with super patriot Lex Luger and proud Native American Tatanka, even ending the latterโs unbeaten streak. But a shocking revelation proved Halme wasnโt merely playing an evil foreigner; he was living the gimmick to a grotesque degree:
"[Halme] was wearing boots that were low-cut, and he had a very diminutive SS tattoo," Jim Ross recalled on his podcast Grilling JR. "It wasnโt huge. But it was there. It was very uncomfortable. And he was uncomfortable and untalented. But he had a million-dollar look. He looked like a Ferrari with a four-cylinder motor. When he left, nobody shed any tears."
Notably, being a real-life Neo-Nazi wasnโt enough for Halme to get immediately fired from the WWF; rather, the promotion would cover the tattoo with tape and have Ludvig Borga wear larger boots. After working less than a year, Halme would leave the WWF due to, as the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (Nov. 7, 2011) reports, a severely broken ankle.
Though early in his career, Halme had already amassed a litany of injuries that, as he said, fortified a growing drug dependency: "I didnโt survive those gigs without painkillers. In the morning, I took a jar of ephedrine in order to wake up, [took ephedrine again] with painkillers before the match, and [took ephedrine again and painkillers again] to be able to drive or sleep."
Pro wrestling is always the devilโs bargain: a pound of flesh for the bright lights of fame. Halmeโs career was precisely that exchange: the injuries and drugs were the prices Halme paid to have pro wrestling pluck him out of obscurity.
When Halme arrived in Los Angeles in the 1980s, he was another anonymous immigrant with a dream. Early on, he perceived jobs are always available for, as he described, a "big and ugly man," so he dedicated himself to becoming just that: big and ugly.
Becoming a fixture at the famed Venice Beach Goldโs Gym, Halme began cycling anabolic steroids and growth hormone to enhance his 6โ3" frame and grew to 310 pounds. The world of celebrity loomed closer as Halme began to pay the bills serving as a bodyguard for famous musical acts, including Cheap Trick and Gene Simmons of KISS. But, it was infamous cocaine and hooker aficionado Herb Abrams, promoter of the UWF, who spotted Halme and introduced him to pro wrestling rings.
Halme was packaged as "The Viking" and had his first pro wrestling matches in California in the fall of 1990. Though his work was stiff and unwatchable, his brute size was perfect for what audiences wanted at the time. His professional wrestling career had begun.
He would spend two and a half years in the promotion and experience his first major push: Halme ascended up the card by teaming with Scott Norton to become IWGP Tag Team Champions. But, in a pattern we would see over and over again with Halme, as soon as he experienced success, Halmeโs belligerent personality introduced obstacles.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter (Nov. 7, 2011) reports Halmeโs push ended when he sucker-punched and brutalized Norton in a very real street fight, knocking Norton unconscious.
Anticipating the beginning of a violent, real-life feud, New Japan punished Halme by having him job out more and more.
Disappointed with this turn in his career, Halme would leave the promotion in June of 1993 and go on his short-lived run with the aforementioned WWF.
Life After the WWE
Back home, he landed a spot on the Finnish version of American Gladiators, performing as "Viikinki" (which translates to "The Viking") from 1993 to 1995 (this article also details Halme throwing an attacking heckler 10-15 yards at a hockey game).
He would even dabble in acting, appearing in Die Hard with a Vengeance, though his days in the United States were officially over.
"Fists giveth, and fists taketh away."
– Tony Halme
Not through with pro wrestling, Halme joined Europeโs Catch Wrestling Association in 1995. Halme even continued using the Ludvig Borga gimmick. But as per his pattern, Halmeโs run would end dubiously.
The Finnish newspaper City reported: "[Halmeโs] career in wrestling ended when he was charged with drug importations, sales, and manufacturing. In his own words, [this was] completely unfounded. It was not until February 1997, when Halme had already begun his career as a boxer, that all charges were dropped."
Concurrently, he pursued professional boxing, becoming a 2-time Finnish Heavyweight Champion. Considering Halme was an established celebrity in Finland with presumed drawing power, the legitimacy of these fights is questionable. His lone appearance in the UFC was unquestionably a debacle.
"When I go [to the octagon], I go there to kill or be killed," Halme immortally stated before his fight at UFC 13 (his opponent–another curious historical footnote–was a debuting Randy Couture). "At first, Iโll try to hit him as hard as I can. If I miss that point, Iโll try to headbutt him. If I miss that point, Iโll rip his arms off and rip his legs off. I got balls of iron, and I go there to rip the head off or die trying."
According to Coutureโs book Becoming the Natural: My Life In and Out of the Cage, while watching the pay-per-view with family, Coutureโs mother found Halmeโs words so disturbing she began to sob uncontrollably. Even more extreme, Halmeโs interview caused Coutureโs wife to vomit in a trash can.
In the bout, Halme would submit to Couture in less than a minute.

"God Forgives, I Do Not" – Tony Halme
Halmeโs controversial 1998 biography, God Forgives, I Do Not, and its 2001 follow-up The Day of Judgmentโ would announce his homophobia and racism to the world. In one especially horrible passage about his time in prison, he details saying the following to a black prisoner:
"Hey, monkey. Even if I am the fattest person in the world, I can always get skinny, but the skin does not turn white even when washed."
Disappointingly, these works seemed only further to foment his popularity among certain circles in Finland.
He would pen three more books, land acting roles, and would begin a musical career. His single "Viikinki" (which translates to Viking) went gold in Finland, meaning it sold more than 5,000 copies; "Viikinki" would even reach number 2 on the singles charts in 1999.
One of the lyrics of "Viikinki" proudly proclaims Halmeโs homophobia: "โExit Onlyโ is tattooed onto my arse"; other news media would report Halme, indeed, had "Exit Only" tattooed on his buttocks.
Watch the Tony Halme music video, "Viikinki":

Politics and a Plunge into Darkness for Tony Halme
Tony Halme lassoed this horrible momentum and propelled his career toward a new arena: politics.
Halmeโs celebrity and unrepentant views would attract him to the far-right True Finns party.
Under this partyโs banner, Halme was elected to Finlandโs Parliament in March of 2003. He captured 16,390 votes in the Helsinki constituency — a number Finnish media would describe as "staggering."
The day after his victory, he said in a radio interview: "If a lesbian can be elected president, then why canโt I be elected to parliament?"
After immediate media backlash, Halme responded by saying he truly thought Finnish President Tarja Halonen–despite being married to First Gentleman of Finland Pentti Arajรคrvi–was a lesbian, so didnโt mean his comment as an insult.

"I got brain damage from cirrhosis of the liver."
–ย Tony Halme
Four months after being elected to Parliament, Halmeโs life appeared ideal: he was enjoying political success, continued fame, and even contemplated a run for president. But the summer of 2003 would begin Halmeโs inexorable plunge into darkness.
It all began on the night of Thursday, Jul. 3, 2003, when Halme combined heavy drinking with taking massive quantities of amphetamines.
He was suspected by on-lookers of driving drunk to his apartment in Helsinki.
When he arrived home, he and his wife Katja began an argument that would last into the early morning.
At 7:00 AM on Jul. 4, apartment residents heard the sound of a pistol firing in the Halmesโ apartment. Police would later confirm Tony had pulled the trigger; thankfully, no one was hit by the bullet.
After the gunshot, Tony and Katja’s argument escalated, prompting the police to surround the coupleโs apartment. Eventually, an ambulance would arrive at 10:00 AM and haul Tony away to a hospital.
While hospitalized, Halme slipped into a coma that would last three weeks. Halmeโs election manager Veikko Vallin would speculate the lack of oxygen from the amphetamine and alcohol overdose caused permanent brain damage in Halme; Vallin said Halme was never the same afterward.
The police investigated the incident, finding "an unmarked Parabellum military pistol, ammunition and thousands of pills and vials of drugs, including anabolic steroids" in Halmeโs apartment, according to the Associated Press ("Lawmaker sentenced for gun and drug violations," 1/29/2004).
Halme would be charged with six different crimes, including drunk driving, the illegal possession of imported drugs, amphetamine usage, and owning an unlicensed pistol; all but the drunk driving charge would stick. Halme faced a four-month prison sentence. Parliament discussed ousting him but opted not due to the lengthy procedural process. Halmeโs subsequent legal appeals failed to overturn the sentence.
For a politician whose messaging focused on strengthening law and order and demanding tighter controls on drugs, Halme especially looked like a hypocrite.
Strangely, despite his four-month prison sentence, Halme was still elected to Helsinki Council in the fall of 2004.
Katja would be granted a divorce in 2005 (she would later write a tell-all biography, which detailed a time when Tony threatened her with an ax).
When not in prison, Halme fuelled further controversy by beating up a guy at a hamburger stand (charges were not filed) and drawing a parliamentary reprimand by declaring, during a parliamentary speech: "every single pedophile should get their nuts cut off, get punched in the *** with a pin, and thrown into a dungeon for the rest of their life."
In February of 2006, Halme faced a new charge of drunk driving. He was admitted into a psychiatric ward in order to seek treatment for his addictions. He would remain in treatment for three months.
After his treatment ended, he would get convicted for the earlier drunk driving episode and sentenced to 80 days in prison.
In court, he proclaimed he had neurological problems stemming from his 2003 incident; he said he commonly seemed drunk and now had obstructed speech.
At the end of 2006, Halme would officially declare he would not seek reelection to Parliament. In 2007, he would be granted a disability pension, which caused bad blood between him and other members of parliament. After a few filing snafus, he would resign from the Helsinki Council due to illness as well.
His political career was over, but now collecting a nice pension check, Halme had all the free time in the world.
He spent his newfound free time by falling over in a sauna and needing 20 stitches in his nose, falling over again and crushing his face in Thailand, and dating erotic dancer Johanna Tukiainen (Tukiainen rose to prominence in Finland via a sexting scandal with Finlandโs Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva; Tukiainen sold screenshots of the sexting to a Finnish magazine).

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The Death of Wrestlingโs Ludvig Borga
In October of 2009, Halme was again charged with drunk driving. He was drug tested, and the results returned positive for cocaine and amphetamines. The police searched his house and found an illegal Luger pistol along with one hundred 9-mm rounds of ammunition.
"When there are no good things to remember, itโs better to let all the **** be."
After this latest charge, Halmeโs tell-all interview with Finnish magazine hymy! was published. In it, he detailed his brain damage and stated he had trouble speaking and walking and even needed sticky notes to help him remember to do household chores.
Halme would never make it to court for this latest charge.
On Jan. 8, 2010, Tony Halme raised a gun to his temple, squeezed the trigger, and ended one of the most unusual lives ever associated with the squared circle. Two days would pass before his body was discovered. Upon hearing the news, Halmeโs ex-wife Katja wondered if something was wrong with her when she didnโt mourn.
Though itโs human nature to feel uneasy about passing judgment upon the dead, the story of Halmeโs extreme life invites moral scrutiny from us all. And, in reading the closing words to Halmeโs book Judgment Day, Halme clearly understood what his brazenness invited:
"For me, the circle is closed. Iโve come home, and here I will stay. I am willing to put everything in the game. Every day is a day of judgment. When the gong rings for the last time, it is futile to request a revision."
![Ludvig Borga - The Surreal, Shocking Life of Tony Halme Tony Halme near the end, in 2009. [Photo: is.fi]](https://prowrestlingstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/word-image-10.jpg)
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