8 People You Won't Believe ALMOST Became A Wrestling Champion

5. Ludvig Borga

Wesley Snipes Blade
WWE.com

Ludvig Borga appeared within contemporary wrestling conversation again lately when a Jim Ross podcast tidbit revealed the company's need to cover up a Waffen-SS nazi tattoo, but WWE would've been in even more trouble had they gone ahead with original plans to briefly make the Finnish nationalist their World Heavyweight Champion during his short 1993-1994 stint.

Brought in as an entirely different proposition to pre-existing xenophobia-driven heel Yokozuna, Borga's extreme stance on environmentalism and (as he saw it) the decaying condition of the United States at large seemed primed to dovetail with Lex Luger's ongoing quest to become WWE Champion.

Luger's failure to dethrone the Champion at SummerSlam appeared to be the first point plans changed on Borga, but they'd happen again.

WWE wouldn't have matched the heels against one another at the time, but Yoko clung on at the top - prominent survival escapes against Tatanka, Randy Savage and The Undertaker repeatedly removed heroes for Borga to snatch the title from. By the time Bret Hart slayed the sumo star at WrestleMania X, man-behind-the-misery Tony Halme had already left the company following an ankle injury.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett