Newest WWE Casualty: Tony ‘Ludwig Borga’ Halme, 47

Tony Halme, a main event star for the predecessor of World Wrestling Entertainment for a couple of years in the mid-1990s, under the name “Ludwig Borga,” has been found dead at his home in Finland, at age 47.

Halme also boxed and worked in the early days of the emerging sport of mixed martial arts. In addition, he served a term in the Finnish legislature as a member of the extreme right-wing party, the True Finns.

Here are some more pertinent facts about Halme. But before quoting from the email newsletter of Mike Aldren, who covers wrestling for Britain’s Sun newspaper, I want to emphasize how horribly unfair it would be to add this example to the occupational health and safety record of Linda McMahon, the co-founder and former CEO of WWE who is seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut. After all, Tony Halme was not under contract to WWE at the moment his death certificate was issued in northern Europe.

In 2004 [Aldren writes of Halme], he was given a four-month suspended sentence for firearms and drugs offences after he fired a pistol during a domestic dispute with his wife. At the time he blamed the incident on being under the influence of prescription drugs and alcohol, anhd a search of his home and office revealed steroids and amphetamines. In March 2006, Halme was committed to a mental institution, reportedly due to delirium caused by substance abuse. A few months earlier he had been diagnosed with alcohol-related cirrhosis and acute pancreatitis. After being on sick leave for most of 2006, he went on disability pension at end of his Parliamentary term. Just last month he said in a newspaper interview that he was destitute and suffering from issues with his short-term memory.

Irv Muchnick