Money Changes Everything
Inspired by their visit, Mason and Mansoor (now signed to AEW as MxM Collection) decided they needed to do more. They organized a who’s who list of wrestlers, social media stars, and even wrestling media members to raise money for the group.
This wasn’t the first time that someone tried to help SGW financially, however. The initial effort portended what should have been seen as a sign to tap the brakes and devise a plan. Instead, everyone involved, including international wrestling superstars and world champions, doubled down.
After seeing some SGW clips on social media, an American teen (not named due to being a minor) reached out to help. Bumbash quickly declared him the US Ambassador for SGW, and a GoFundMe campaign was launched. The stated purpose was to raise funds for the purchase of a proper wrestling ring. The goal was to raise $10,000. That goal was exceeded thanks to the help of some of the biggest names in wrestling.
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AEW standouts Daniel Garcia and Will Ospreay donated, as well as TNA Wrestling’s Jordynne Grace. Ospreay gave $2,000. Garcia chipped in $100, and Grace contributed a donation of $200.
8 Much of the remainder came from everyday people.
Eventually, the former SGW associate who organized the GoFundMe campaign was suspended from Twitter, never to return after a campaign of online harassment incited by both Bumbash followers and skeptics accused him of withholding the funds from SGW and causing delays in getting the much-needed money to Uganda. An innocent kid had been implicated both as a thief and part of an international conspiracy to scam people out of their hard-earned money.
The truth is that a teenager is not in the best position to handle international monetary transfers. No matter how successful the campaign would have been, the unprepared minor was in over his head. Any legitimate businessperson would laugh at the very idea of allowing a teen to handle large sums of money with the eyes of the world on them. Bumbash embraced it, knowing having a scapegoat on the back burner may prove useful.
Getting money to Uganda is enough of a conundrum. GoFundMe and many other services are unable to directly send funds to the country, resulting in the use of the third-party wire service, WorldRemit. There were also fees tagged on by GoFundMe, PayPal, and various other services used to convert the currency from US dollars, then to British pounds, and finally to Ugandan Shillings.
Due to the complexity of this process, the transfers were facilitated through a person in the UK with dual Ugandan citizenship and known by Bumbash named Sophia Vee. Despite a large chunk of the donations being lost to the fees, what was left of the money did make it to its destination. Bumbash was furious over the delays, however, and began blaming the very people who were working hard on his behalf.
Several sources directly involved with the situation, including individuals no longer associated with Soft Ground Wrestling painted a picture of a young person who was trying to help a cause he believed in being strong-armed by Bumbash. Text messages obtained during interviews for this story show that Bumbash openly bragged about being pushy and abusive to the teen who was trying to help his peers from across the globe achieve their lofty ambitions as oblivious outsiders looked for somebody to point the finger at. He did not sugarcoat his treatment of the volunteer.
“I abused [the fundraising volunteer] badly,” Bumbash wrote in a text message to one of his associates. “… Once provoked, I become a snake.”
Bumbash, in that same conversation, went on to brag about outsmarting the youth.
“I think I am not dumb,” he boasted. He went on to describe how his degree in surveying uniquely equipped him to outsmart a teenager. That volunteer has since disappeared from all involvement in SGW, citing harassment and stalking stemming from the controversy.
Bumbash also had a backup plan in case the money didn’t arrive as planned. Multiple insiders confirmed that a video had been shot wherein SGW trainees were told to speak about how they were ripped off, shifting blame to the frightened volunteer, who at the time was desperately trying to find a way to get the money to Uganda. This was then held over his head by Bumbash himself. An array of threatening, aggressive communications warned the former SGW associate that if Bumbash didn’t get his money, they would blame him and take pains to ruin his reputation publicly, before there was even a chance to establish it.
As observers of the increasingly popular online sensation awaited the arrival of the money, the tone turned against those involved with the fundraiser, leading to an online bullying campaign that ultimately inspired amateur internet detectives to harass, stalk, and threaten the youngster who put the whole campaign together. That included private threats from Bumbash himself, which understandably left the volunteer terrified. Despite all of this, the funds made it to the personal bank account of the SGW founder.
With a hefty portion of the money being paid out to the various financial service providers and banks, there was not enough left to purchase a ring. In a video posted by Bumbash to the Soft Ground Wrestling account on X as well as one shared on the GoFundMe page
9, the group claimed that taxes, transportation, and other factors made it impossible to purchase a ring.
10 Instead, the money would be used to build an office and food storage area. It is unknown how much of this initial money went toward those goals, but an SGW source did note that those buildings had already been in place since at least October, months before the fundraiser took place.
This was the first in a long line of questionable events relating to Bumbash’s alleged abuses and Mafia boss-like tactics in the way he handles the business of SGW. There had long been jokes and perhaps dubious suspicions that SGW could be a scam. Bumbash simply promotes it as a place where orphans can come, train, get their bodies and minds in shape, eat well, and learn the ropes of pro wrestling. There were certainly red flags right from the start, but they either went undetected or ignored. Bumbash and his troupe of young grapplers marched forward, riding the wave of their international viral success.
As the Lord White storyline got hot with the social media audience, Mase and Mansoor made their visit, creating even more buzz. They allowed SGW to sell t-shirts with their likeness to raise money.
11 Soon, they announced an online stream that would feature a cavalcade of stars to help SGW wrestlers “Achieve the Dream.”
The goal was to raise money for beds, mattresses, six months of food and water, a van so the group could travel, and cash to buy or continue to lease the land they were renting for $200 a month. The event was set for May 6, 2024.
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Famed pro wrestling scoops reporter Sean Ross Sapp joined Mase and Mansoor along with former WWE star Mojo Rawley, AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland, Maffew (of Botchamania fame), YouTube star Justin Whang, and other wrestlers from TNA, WWE, AEW, and the independent circuit including Mojo Rawley, Evil Uno, Mustafa Ali, Donovan Dijak, Joe Hendry, and Nikki Cross for the festivities. The stream had an endlessly positive vibe, and the public was more than happy to send their money to help what they believed were starving kids in a poor country.
Things went better than anyone could have possibly anticipated. The pro wrestling community showed its resolve and love for what Bumbash and company were building. The stream raised nearly $30,000. Mansoor’s mother kicked in the entire amount of cash needed to buy the van. The future of SGW appeared to be secure, and the good news didn’t stop rolling in.
After raising $40,000 with the initial intent of buying a wrestling ring, SGW was still, quite literally, in the mud. The following month, the top star in WWE and one of the most recognizable wrestlers on the planet voiced his support. Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes announced via a video
13 that he was going to buy a fully funded ring for Soft Ground Wrestling to be constructed locally so that the logistics pitfalls of the first attempt could be more readily avoided. They now had the money, a legitimate squared circle on the way, and a solid core of international fans who wanted to see what might come next for the unlikely crew.