Soft Ground Wrestling, a promotion based in Uganda, has gained popularity online, with former AEW World Champion Kenny Omega claiming to be a fan.
SGW’s video clips have gone viral on Twitter, and it recently received support from former WWE Superstars Mace and Mansoor.
During a recent Twitch stream, Omega expressed his fandom for the Ugandan wrestling promotion. He said,
“Yes. Yes, I think we all are. SGW Uganda, one thing that I really love and appreciate about it is that when you’re watching it, you can feel the heart of the athletes. It’s infectious to see the passion of these people and the passion of through their work. Even in the most rudimentary of ways, they wrestle on a dirt ring. It looks like bamboo posts. Visually, there are ropes, but I don’t think you can run them. You understand by watching that they are in there trying to do a professional wrestling show.”
SGW was founded on March 16, 2023, by a passionate local resident, Daniel Bumba, who had a vision to train aspiring wrestlers. Since then, the school has made remarkable progress, training over 180 students, and catching the attention of the wrestling community worldwide.
The promotion gained international recognition when Will Ospreay and Jordynne Grace generously donated to a GoFundMe fundraiser aimed at providing the school with a standard wrestling ring and additional operating funds.
Omega added, “I think they are doing a great job entertaining the fans. They are clearly doing a great job entertaining people online. It’s quite impressive actually that a promotion with a small start and humble beginning has been able to attract so much attention around the world. As you’ve seen, they had a couple of folks from WWE visit there very recently. AEW alumni CIMA took his STRONGHEARTS there. This place, it’s getting traction. I think that’s wonderful. It’s cool. It’d be great to test their athletes or go out there myself.”
