00:00A wrestling scandal potentially exposed?
00:02How much WWE paid The Rock?
00:05Ooooooh, good news for Roman Reigns!
00:08And more.
00:09I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:14Get a bonus exclusive survival series by joining Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk now!
00:20Earlier this year, soft ground wrestling Uganda became an internet sensation.
00:24Clips shared online showed a roster of young, aspiring wrestlers from the Ugandan capital
00:28of Kampala in Africa, who wrestled with all passion and no frills.
00:33The most noticeably missing frill being an actual ring.
00:37Because the soft ground name of the promotion was a shoot, brother, they wrestled on a mud
00:41floor.
00:42Names like Coolman, Hammis Diamond and Lord White even got coverage from the Associated
00:47Press.
00:48It captured the hearts of both wrestling fans and actual wrestlers, with Will Ospreay, Mesa
00:53Mansoor, even WWE Champion Cody Rhodes boosting the promotion.
00:58It recalled a simpler time in wrestling, like the backyard scene in the 90s and noughties
01:02where someone like Ospreay first started out.
01:05Fans raised the promotion tens of thousands of dollars online.
01:08Notable wrestlers like former AEW star CIMA and former WWE stars now with AEW Mesa Mansoor
01:14actually travelled to Uganda to wrestle in matches to help raise their profile more.
01:19But now, in a report from Bodyslam.net, the promotion's founder is being accused of
01:24mismanaging those funds.
01:26The promoter of soft ground wrestling is Daniel Bumbash.
01:29Bodyslam.net describes him as a longtime wrestling fan who has a professional background translating
01:34American wrestling matches for Ugandan audiences, and he's worked as a television presenter
01:39in the past.
01:40He is also soft ground wrestling's principal wrestling trainer, despite having no apparent
01:45formal training himself.
01:46Bodyslam.net alleges that with SGW's growing popularity, Bumbash focused his company's
01:53idea that SGW was a haven for young orphans with nowhere to go, no education, nothing
01:58to eat and no prospects for a better future.
02:01This inspired the fundraising efforts.
02:04An American teen was first to reach out to help, offering to start a GoFundMe.
02:07Bumbash declared the teen the US Ambassador for SGW, and the campaign to raise $10,000
02:14to buy the promotion a proper wrestling ring was launched.
02:17Will Ospreay donated $2,000.
02:19Jordan Grace gave $200.
02:22Daniel Garcia gave $100.
02:24The rest came from wrestling fans, and the GoFundMe was successful.
02:28Bodyslam.net reports, though, that the American teen was then suspended from Twitter after
02:32a campaign of online harassment accusing him of not sending the money to Uganda.
02:37They allege that what really happened was that the teen was in over their head, as international
02:41money transfers can be pretty complex.
02:44GoFundMe was unable to send funds directly to Uganda, so they ended up being sent to
02:49a UK person with dual Ugandan citizenship to then be sent to SGW.
02:53A large chunk of these donations were reportedly lost due to these transfer and currency conversion
02:58fees, which made Bumbash furious over the delays, and he began blaming the very people
03:04who were working hard on his behalf.
03:07Bodyslam.net say they have several sources that said Bumbash was pushy and abusive to
03:11the GoFundMe organiser, with one alleged text message from Bumbash reading,
03:15I abused the fundraising volunteer badly.
03:19Once provoked, I become a snake.
03:21Allegedly, Bumbash also recorded a video where SGW trainees spoke about how they had been
03:26ripped off by the GoFundMe campaign, and he threatened to release it if he didn't get
03:30the money.
03:31With the international transfer fees coming out of the GoFundMe total, there wasn't
03:35enough left to buy a ring.
03:36So Bumbash released a video saying they would use it to build an office and food storage
03:40area instead.
03:41But Bodyslam.net alleges that those buildings had been in place since at least October,
03:46before the GoFundMe took place.
03:48With the first fundraising effort not being able to buy SGW a ring, Mason Mansoor arranged
03:53and achieved the Dream Charity Stream in May.
03:56The event brought together stars from across the wrestling world, like AEW World Champion
04:00Swerve Strickland, TNA and NXT star Joe Hendry, WWE wrestler Nikki Cross and reporter Sean
04:07Ross Sapp.
04:08The stream was a huge success, raising nearly $30,000, with Mansoor's own mum donating
04:14the amount of money to buy SGW a van so they could travel around for shows.
04:19And then came the biggest endorsement so far.
04:22WWE Champion Cody Rhodes released a video announcing he was going to buy a fully funded
04:27ring for SGW to be built locally, to get around all the logistical problems of shipping a
04:33ring from elsewhere to Uganda.
04:36Bombash then started to talk about running a 50,000 seat stadium show, and claimed SGW
04:41had signed an agreement with Ugandan TV channel MBS Sport to air the promotion.
04:46Bodyslam.net tried to verify the TV deal with MBS Sport, but was met with silence.
04:50They also reached out to Bombash himself, who supplied unsigned paperwork suggesting
04:55there was no actual signed contract.
04:58Bodyslam then tried to look up Soft Ground Wrestling or the Bombash Wrestling Academy
05:02on the Ugandan Registration Services Bureau, but there were no results, meaning SGW is
05:07neither a legal business, charity, orphanage, school or any other type of entity as far
05:13as the laws of Uganda are concerned.
05:15Bombash allegedly couldn't supply Bodyslam with a valid certificate, insisting there
05:19was an error on the Ugandan government website.
05:22The reason this legal corporation stuff is so important is that it means all the cash
05:26donations raised and the van bought by Mansoor's mum are in the personal name of Bombash, as
05:31opposed to a company called SGW.
05:34So what happened to that $30,000 raised by the Achieve the Dream stream?
05:39According to Bodyslam, the funds were sent to somebody else in SGW, not Bombash himself,
05:44to avoid the problems of the first fundraiser.
05:47Bombash has allegedly made repeated threats to that person, becoming infuriated and making
05:51veiled threats when he was accused of mishandling money.
05:54People who cared about the students didn't want to see any more cash disappear, and there
05:58was a faction that was growing to distrust Bombash more by the day.
06:02And what happened to that van?
06:03In a since-deleted social media post from June 4th, SGW said students and talent had
06:08gone out to donate to the poor and disabled people using wrestling as an umbrella.
06:13They allegedly used the van Mansoor's mum bought to make those trips.
06:17But then, a month later, the charity Nova Talent Elevation Africa replied to news reports
06:22covering this that they did these things, and they have no business relationship with
06:28SGW.
06:29The photos that were used in that post were actually from a TikTok event in 2023, and
06:34the van was a different van.
06:36Bombash told Bodyslam he's never lied.
06:39When asked about the van post, he replied, we are stronger no matter what, we are rectifying
06:43that.
06:44For what it's worth, Bombash has posted a statement on the SGWX account, where he
06:48claims to have proof of purchase for what they bought from the Achieve the Dream stream,
06:52including the van, and that the MBS TV deal is still in the works.
06:56He blames much of the Bodyslam article on the former SGW wrestler Lord White, who he
07:01alleges has a vendetta against him.
07:03To which Cassidy Haynes, the Bodyslam reporter replied, funny, he's trying to paint this
07:07like we only spoke to one person.
07:09Not the case at all.
07:10More lies from Bombash.
07:12Shocking.
07:13Bombash claims they are still working with Cody Rhodes to get an actual wrestling ring
07:17delivered to an accessible port sooner than later.
07:20But that somewhat contradicts Cody's original idea of funding a ring that would be built
07:24locally so it wouldn't need to come over on a boat.
07:27But how about WWE and all the money they're making?
07:30Yesterday was the most magical tri-monthly time of the year, WWE's quarterly investors
07:35reports.
07:36And the Q2 report revealed how much Rock was paid for his new role on the TKO Board of
07:40Directors and his WrestleMania return match.
07:43The report confirms the $30 million amount that Johnson received for joining the board,
07:48which had been paid out as expenses of $6.7 million in Q1 and $15.7 million in Q2.
07:55In addition to these, he received $700,000 through the sale of products using his IP,
08:01and $3.1 million worth of reimbursements for travel expenses.
08:07Damn those rail cards go up every year.
08:09Over to The Rock's bloodline buddy… or is he?
08:12Roman Reigns, it has been confirmed, thankfully, that his advertised return to SmackDown tonight
08:16isn't just a one-off.
08:18He will also be appearing on next Friday's August 16th show in Orlando, Florida.
08:23Wait a second, card subject to change?
08:26This means he will have been on three consecutive weeks of programming since returning at last
08:30week's SummerSlam, which was his first WWE appearance in four months since WrestleMania
08:3540.
08:36So, well yeah, duh, he's back now, Roman is on a limited dates contract.
08:40It remains to be seen if he's actually going to build a match at the next PLE Bash at Berlin.
08:45Subscribe to us here at WrestleTalk because I'm going to do a special bonus SmackDown
08:48review episode tomorrow to cover Roman's return.
08:51But as the wrestling god giveth, he also taketh awayeth.
08:55Because Wrestling Observer Radio is reporting the awesome Bronson Reed angle on Monday's
08:59Raw was actually a way to write Seth Rollins off TV, as he is legitimately injured and
09:04needs time off to heal up.
09:06After tearing his MCL in January and getting knee surgery in April, Rollins has only wrestled
09:11once in the last four months, which was challenging Priest for the World Heavyweight title at
09:15Money in the Bank.
09:16Dakota Kai is also said to be legitimately injured, which is why she was also kayfabe-tacked
09:21on Raw to write her off TV.
09:23It's Survival Series Day everyone, hooray!
09:26If you join Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk right now to support us to make all this content,
09:31you can get a whole bonus exclusive episode of it!
09:35Here's a clip of us trying to name every AEW pay-per-view main event… ever.
10:01There are only ever one main event on these shows, I don't care what WrestleMania tries
10:31to say.
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