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Post by The Brain on Feb 18, 2017 18:30:12 GMT -5
This guy had so much potential in the WWF it's a shame he got injured pretty early on in his run. He did the evil foreigner shtick perfectly IMO. Even his promos were solid like the one here....
Bottom line this guy was badass for that time period. |
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Post by JokerFC on Feb 19, 2017 5:34:14 GMT -5
Borga was indeed solid and apparently Vince was VERY high on him. Several folks in the know have said that Diesels big run of eliminations in RR94 that was instrumental to getting him over was meant for Borga but he got injured.
He seemed destined for a monster push. He was also incredibly unpopular backstage I believe.....
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jason1980s
Main Eventer
Joined on: Sept 30, 2009 14:58:56 GMT -5
Posts: 2,335
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Post by jason1980s on Feb 19, 2017 8:16:09 GMT -5
I think the character was probably 5-10 years too late and his opponent for the time wasn't over enough (Luger). If he had been around in the 1980s with Hogan, I think it would have been main eventing a PPV or maybe even a few PPVs. As I was getting older in 1993, I just didn't believe the characters like I once had but this Borga really scard me into thinking he was his character. The real life man may have played so well into that. I really liked Luger, actually always have, but unfortunately WWF couldn't make him into the next Hogan. Maybe they really didn't even want to.
The Tatanka feud had potential but too bad Borga got injured. I wonder how the Rumble match would've played. It probably helped Ludvig a lot to align with Yokozuna. IF he had stayed healthy I can see some tag matches with either Yokozuna, Crush or Quebeccers keeping up with the foreign alliance.
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TheEvilDoink1987
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 22, 2010 21:37:52 GMT -5
Posts: 2,821
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Post by TheEvilDoink1987 on Feb 19, 2017 8:57:28 GMT -5
There are so many unanswered questions about this guy.
He debuted in June of 1993 and was immediately put on the fast track to becoming a major player in the WWF. He crushed jobbers for a few months and at Summerslam he destroyed Marty Jannetty in a match where Borga didn't even leave his feet. Then, he was put into a main event feud with Lex Luger. In October, he became the first man to defeat Tatanka. I'm still pissed about that.
Sometime after Survivor Series, he injured his ankle in a match against one of the Steiner brothers. On commentary during the '94 Royal Rumble, Vince mentioned the injury explaining that Bam Bam Bigelow was Borga's replacement to face Tatanka. After that, he was never mentioned again.
The rumors that are most common say that Borga was supposed to win the WWF title and face Lex for the belt at Wrestlemania X. I am also curious why he never came back after his injury. It looked like they had big plans for him so my thinking is that something must have happened behind the scenes that resulted in him being gone for good.The gimmick of evil foreigner was nothing new, but Borga was a badass and I kind of liked him. His power/boxing style made him pretty unique during that time and the guy just looked like a tough bastard.
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Post by UltimateCollector78 on Feb 19, 2017 10:09:40 GMT -5
For a guy who only had a 6 month run, he sure was very memorable and real.
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koreygunz
Main Eventer
Elite Trader
287 Refs in WFClassifieds and counting
Joined on: Jun 18, 2006 15:31:49 GMT -5
Posts: 4,709
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Post by koreygunz on Feb 19, 2017 12:39:19 GMT -5
I'd always heard the rumor about him facing Luger for the title at WM10, but if that's true how would that have played out? Yoko was champion at the time, so how do you get to the title match in two months? Luger beats Yoko for title on Raw?
I could have seen him face Luger on the undercard, and Yoko vs Bret main event. Maybe he would have screwed Luger out of his co-title shot to set it up
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Post by The Brain on Feb 19, 2017 18:11:36 GMT -5
I'd always heard the rumor about him facing Luger for the title at WM10, but if that's true how would that have played out? Yoko was champion at the time, so how do you get to the title match in two months? Luger beats Yoko for title on Raw? I could have seen him face Luger on the undercard, and Yoko vs Bret main event. Maybe he would have screwed Luger out of his co-title shot to set it up I could of definitely seen Borga vs Luger at WM 10 especially since they planted the seeds for it after SummerSlam 93.
Borga would of been a good IC champ if he never got injured.
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rob29
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Oct 26, 2012 16:40:46 GMT -5
Posts: 386
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Post by rob29 on Feb 20, 2017 8:09:09 GMT -5
Borga missed his last 2 scheduled PPVS in 1994 - he was supposed to face Tatanka in a singles match at royal rumble, and was replaced by Bam Bam Bigelow and at wrestlemania 10, he was supposed to face Earthquake, but ended up being replaced by Adam Bomb.
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Deleted
Joined on: Nov 30, 2024 5:54:47 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 21:03:24 GMT -5
wish he would have beat Randy Couture at ufc13!
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Deleted
Joined on: Nov 30, 2024 5:54:47 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2017 17:57:44 GMT -5
People underestimate how over Luger was in '93. He was not on Hogan level by a long shot, but he was right up there neck and neck with Bret Hart. That's pretty remarkable considering that Luger had to overcome playing a generic patriot guy who came out to marching band music and couldn't use his own personality or his famous finisher, the Torture Rack. Luger vs. Borga wouldn't have been on the scale of Hogan vs. Andre, but Borga would have been a great choice for a legit scary villain to help legitimize the new marquee babyface.
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Post by The Brain on Feb 23, 2017 20:17:45 GMT -5
They definitely had big plans for him considering he was the one to end Tatanka's winning streak. As others have said he had a legit look about him. It's a shame he never came back after he got hurt as he could of been one of the big heels of that time period IMO.
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Post by LA Times on Feb 23, 2017 22:53:14 GMT -5
He had a great look for a wrestler but was just terrible in the ring. I saw a match with Borga against Vader in New Japan where he ran out of gas after a few minutes and Vader had to keep motivating him to finish the match.
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Deleted
Joined on: Nov 30, 2024 5:54:47 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2017 8:27:41 GMT -5
I think the character was probably 5-10 years too late and his opponent for the time wasn't over enough (Luger). If he had been around in the 1980s with Hogan, I think it would have been main eventing a PPV or maybe even a few PPVs. As I was getting older in 1993, I just didn't believe the characters like I once had but this Borga really scard me into thinking he was his character. The real life man may have played so well into that. I really liked Luger, actually always have, but unfortunately WWF couldn't make him into the next Hogan. Maybe they really didn't even want to. The Tatanka feud had potential but too bad Borga got injured. I wonder how the Rumble match would've played. It probably helped Ludvig a lot to align with Yokozuna. IF he had stayed healthy I can see some tag matches with either Yokozuna, Crush or Quebeccers keeping up with the foreign alliance. I think the biggest thing with Luger was the Summerslam match. It really was do or die for that match with he build it got, Luger HAD to win the belt to solidify himself as the next face of the company. He had a ton of momentum and his pops around that time were HUGE (even up until Mania X). But after that he looked like the guy who couldn't get it done, so fans looked to Bret as in their mind he could do it (WM9 he had Yoko beat after all). |
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Post by JC Motors on Feb 24, 2017 14:17:56 GMT -5
He had to have one of the shortest runs in WWE next to Nathan Jones
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hoshal13
Jobber
Joined on: Oct 19, 2015 22:39:41 GMT -5
Posts: 25 
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Post by hoshal13 on Feb 24, 2017 15:09:11 GMT -5
Jim Ross thought he was a bully in the lockeroom.
Following Halme's death, Jim Ross stated: "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 rather than later. I still feel badly about the last years of Tony's life as things really unraveled for him seemingly due to alcohol and drug issues.
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