Soft Ground Wrestling Allegedly Defrauded By Promoter

Since it first entered the public eye earlier this year, Uganda's Soft Ground Wrestling promotion (SGW) has become a cult sensation for wrestling fans and even those within the business, so much so that stars like WWE's Cody Rhodes and AEW's Will Ospreay, Mansoor, and Mason D. Madden, have all contributed funds to help the promotion. But these efforts may have been for naught, as new information surrounding SGW suggests an undercurrent of abuse and corruption, primarily from SGW's promoter, Daniel Bumbash.

An extensive, exclusive report from Bodyslam claims Bumbash duped both SGW and the wrestling world at large, primarily when it comes to the funds donated to the promotion. This began with an initial GoFundMe campaign which saw the likes of Ospreay, AEW's Daniel Garcia, and TNA's Jordynne Grace donate. The campaign exceeded its goal of $10,000, but was suspended after the person running it, a former SGW associate, began receiving online harassment from Bumbash and others, accusing the associate of withholding funds.

The associate, revealed to be a teenage SGW fan, has since claimed that he was verbally abused by Bumbash when the money didn't arrive as early as expected; messages obtained by Bodyslam confirm Bumbash admitted to abusing the fan. The money would eventually appear, but large amounts of the donations were lost due to fees. This prevented SGW from building a proper ring, though Bumbash later claimed the funds would go to an "office and food storage area." It's unknown if the funds were in fact used in that manner.

The GoFundMe was followed by Madden and Mansoor's "Achieve the Dream" stream, held in May, which saw over $40,000 donated to SGW, along with the cost of a van provided by Mansoor's mother. This was then quickly followed by Rhodes getting involved, with the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion pledging to buy a wrestling ring for SGW that would be constructed locally. This time, the money was sent to someone in SGW that wasn't Bumbash, allegedly leading to him making threats toward that person.

Those close to the situation noted a split in SGW, with some described as being in a "cult-like trance" regarding Bumbash. Several claims of Bumbash's also appear to be untrue, including a claim that SGW had reached a TV deal with local station NBS Sport. Documents provided by Bumbash to Bodyslam were inconclusive and provide no evidence a deal was completed; a similar situation occurred regarding the legal status of SGW's supposed wrestling school.

Bumbash denied many of the allegations, but was unable to explain several inconsistencies, including a previous claim by SGW that they used the van provided by Mansoor's mother to make pilgrimages to donate to the poor, which was refuted by Nova Talent Elevation Africa, a charitable organization that says SGW used one of their vans. The idea that SGW is made up of orphans and homeless kids likewise was said to be "largely a myth," having been presented that way so SGW could come off as a charitable organization when in fact it held no such status.

Other evidence shows that Bumbash may have endangered his talent, with one of the two vans he purchased shown to have no backseat or seatbelts, forcing passengers to lean against the wall. Some who traveled with Bumbash said he could be seen drinking vodka while driving to pick up international wrestlers coming to work SGW, though it remains unconfirmed whether he drove intoxicated while transporting SGW wrestlers or students.

Finally, other documents confirm that SGW talents were involved in a mass arrest that occurred on May 25, on charges of malicious damage to property and arson. Both female and male trainees were said to be arrested, and a German TV crew on hand to document SGW caught the scene, which saw trainees arrested while working on what they believed to be SGW land — where the arson charge comes from is unclear. Bumbash has since claimed that he thought he had purchased the land legitimately, but had been instead been scammed.

While the charges against the trainees could've led to them facing life in prison, all were released shortly thereafter, with Bumbash supposedly claiming he would "pay to have everybody's records wiped clean." It's unclear if he was referring to bribing officials to make the charges go away, or to posting bond to have trainees released. It also remains unknown whether Bumbash used donated funds to pay for the trainees' freedom.