Soft Ground Wrestling
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Acronym | SGW |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2023 |
| Style | Professional wrestling, with aspects of mud wrestling |
| Headquarters | Mukono District |
| Founder | Daniel Bumba |
| Website | Official website |
Soft Ground Wrestling (Ekigwo kya Bumbash, abbreviated SGW) is an Ugandan independent professional wrestling promotion and wrestling school.[1][2] Based in Mukono–Kirangira, Mukono District, SGW was founded on March 16, 2023, by local resident Daniel Bumba, a quantity surveyor turned television presenter. As of March 2024, the school trains over 180 students. The promotion is noted for their rudimentary production setup that consists of a wrestling ring made from mud, surrounded by nylon ropes held together by bamboo posts.[3]
The promotion gained international attention when All Elite Wrestling's Will Ospreay and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Jordynne Grace made donations to a GoFundMe fundraiser aimed at providing it a standard wrestling ring as well as additional operating funds.[4]
| Part of a series on |
| Professional wrestling |
|---|
 |
Soft Ground Wrestling was founded on March 16, 2023, by Daniel Bumba. The company began wrestling in an informal ring, composed of nylon ropes, bamboo ring posts, and a bare ground, which gave the promotion its name.[2] The company began posting clips of their matches and promos online, which began to gain attention on social media.
Beginning in February 2024, SGW ran several crowdfunding campaigns to buy materials needed to maintain their wrestling promotion. This included a wrestling ring and supplies. They also promised that money raised would be spent on legally renting the land used for SGW events. These crowdfunding campaigns garnered significant attention. The original goal was $10,000, but between the different crowdfunding campaigns, as well as other donations, the promotion ended up raising over $40,000.[5] Many wrestlers donated money, including Will Ospreay and Jordynne Grace.[4]
Later, a livestream was held to raise money for the promotion. This livestream attracted a lot of attention and brought in many guests, including Mason and Mansoor of MxM Collection, Mojo Rawley, Evil Uno, Mustafa Ali, Dijak, Joe Hendry, and Nikki Cross. This livestream, meant to raise money for a van as well as additional supplies. In total, the livestream raised nearly $30,000. In addition, Mansoor's mother donated the full amount of money needed for a van.[5]
After this, the promotion began to see wrestlers visit from overseas. In April 2024, Cima and other performers from Japanese professional wrestling and mixed martial arts promotion Gleat appeared for SGW. That same month, MxM Collection appeared in the promotion.[6] In May 2024, Tate Mayfair joined SGW. He later competed in a tournament in the promotion to crown their first SGW Champion.[7]
In May 2024, there was an incident at a SGW show where multiple wrestlers for the promotion, including Bumba, were arrested for malicious property damage. SGW claimed that the land they were on was legally theirs, having bought it, but later, Bumba claimed to have been duped by a fake broker. Bumba claimed later to have bribed the police to let the wrestlers go and to have the incident wiped off their records.[5]
In April 2025, British YouTuber and social media influencer Joe Weller participated in SGW's Mud Mania event, defeating One Man Army in a match held in a wrestling ring made from mud. Post-match, Joe announced that he would be donating money that will go toward providing medical services for SGW future events, such as paying for ambulances and medical staff.