The Rise And Fall Of Tony Halme (Dokumentti 1/2)

31 years ago, The Viking arrived at Herb Abrams' UWF and nearly killed his opponent. Bruno Sammartino said, "This guy is not Andre The Giant, but this guy is a giant in his own right."

Tony Halme wrestled in AWA, UWF, NJPW, WWF, CWA, Fight Zone & Fighting Network Rings.

Tony Halme was trained by: Verne Gagne,
Brad Rheingans, Gene LeBell, Gokor Chivichyan & Masa Saito.

"I was Ludvig Borga, the Hellraiser From Helsinki, and I wrestled Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental Championship. Razor Ramon's top turnbuckle move caused me to break my L4, which kind of ended my career."

32 days later, Ludvig Borga wrestled his last match in WWF at Madison Square Garden against Rick Steiner. Tony Halme broke his ankle and left WWF just before the 1994 Royal Rumble.

"If I had known what I now know about wrestling, I would have done many things differently. It was very psychological, and other wrestlers tried to make me look bad in the bosses' eyes. My favorite matches were SummerSlam 1993 against Marty Jannetty and my matches against Tatanka, but also in NJPW when Scott Norton and I won tag championships. I wrestled Scott Steiner many times but never fought him. However, I did fight Norton and once knocked him out. He was 160 kg and looked like Fred from the Flintstones. We were together 24/7 over 300 days a year, so we fought sometimes. What happens in the ring hurts, but we don’t try to injure each other. We often wrestled on painkillers because we wrestled every day. People thought we wrestled only once a week on TV."

"I took a break from wrestling and went to the Holmes vs. McCall boxing match. I was drunk and claimed I could beat up both with one hand. The Caesars Palace promoter was sitting right in front of me and said that he needed a heavyweight fighter. So, I made a contract and won my first boxing match 6 weeks later in 55 seconds. I started signing autographs for the kids and saw that sparkle in their eyes. That’s when I decided to stay in boxing. It was incredible."

Tony Halme knocked out 184 kg, 193 cm pro wrestler and actor Jeep Swenson (Bane from Batman) at the Helsinki boxing night in 1996. He also knocked down former world champion Michael Dokes while sparring. Halme won his undercard match on Oleg Taktarov's boxing night in 1997 (UFC legend's only pro boxing match).

MMA fighter and black belt Judoka "The Irish Assassin" Mic Tierney trained as a professional wrestler under Tony Halme and faced him in his first match at the Fight Zone Pay Per View. This match was crucial for Tierney, marking the start of his career. The encounter with Halme provided valuable experience. In 1998, Tierney signed a WWF developmental deal, wrestling future WWE stars like Kurt Angle and Bob Holly. Tierney also competed in MMA, including a fight against UFC legend Oleg Taktarov.

On May 30, 1997, Halme made his UFC appearance, being choked out in the first round by future UFC champion Randy Couture at UFC 13. Halme was 3-6 in Fighting Network Rings Shootfighting.

Championships and accomplishments:

CWA World Heavyweight Championship

IWGP Tag Team Championship

PWI ranked him #145 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1993

2x Finnish Heavyweight Boxing Champion

WBF North America's Heavyweight Champion

Tony Halme went 12 rounds with Iran Barkley, winning the WBF Championship. Six months later, he brutally knocked out Mika Kihlström in the rematch, becoming a 2-time national champion. Halme nearly fought Mike Tyson in Finland in 2000 but faced Garing Lane instead as Tyson's undercard in 2001 in Denmark.

   • Mike Tyson 🆚 Tony Halme | The Fight That N...  

Tony Halme had his last major fight in 2000 against Yacine Kingbo for the vacant NBA heavyweight championship. It was also rumored to be a pre-eliminator for WBC/WBA/IBF, which had Henry Akinwande as their number one contender for Lennox Lewis. Halme bragged before the fight that if he won, he would face Akinwande, and after winning against him, face Lewis for the world titles. Contract offer versus Akinwande was made by Don King. Finland never got its world champ though, as Halme fell to Kingbo's hook in round 2 after taunting and dominating him through the 1st round.

Tony Halme was controversial in politics. He spoke publicly that pedophiles and rapists should have their balls cut off and wanted to send them to the Gulag for the rest of their life. At a music festival, he broke the arms of two rapists, stating, “He wouldn’t be able to rape anyone without his arms. If I had more time, I would have broken his legs too, but I also had to punish his friend too."

Tony Halme acted in about 20 movies, including "Die Hard with a Vengeance," "Lionheart - Too Tough to Die," and "Fist of the North Star" (1995). He was offered a role in James Cameron's "Titanic" (1997) but declined.

"I came to this world screaming and all alone. I wander my life pathway without anyone understanding, so I will pass from this world screaming and all alone."

-Tony "The Viking" Halme