In an exclusive for WrestlingNews.co, Steve Fall interviewed former WWE stars Mansoor and Mason Madden (Mace) about their trip to Uganda to support Soft Ground Wrestling. There are some notes and quotes below the video.
Some notes:
– Madden said that SGW reached out to him and while they were on a tour of Europe and the Middle East, they decided to make the trip to Uganda.
– Mansoor described the crazy travel issues and said that it was all worth it. He said, “This village of Mukono, Uganda, where 100 kids are learning how to wrestle. Many of them are orphans and they have nowhere else to go. That is the family and the community that they have. Just a shared love for what we do. It’s so heartwarming and fills our hearts to see people passionate about what we committed our lives to because it’s so easy, especially when we were in WWE, to feel so bitter and resentful about this sport and this art. But when you see people who do it just to do it because they love it, it just reminds you why we do it.”
– Mace talked about making a special moment for the kids. He also said that they are aware of the positive reaction on social media and he got a “Cool Man” saying “Hey bros, I miss you.”
– Mansoor said, “They’re all amazing. It’s one thing to see the reaction on Twitter because seeing the numbers is great. But I’m so happy to go and hopefully, more wrestlers in the future go because to actually see each other and be in the presence of each other and to wrestle each other is an entirely different experience.
– Madden said, “These guys know everything. They consume all of it. They consume WWE, AEW, New Japan. They are so well aware of everything that’s going on.”
– On if their goal is to get a wrestling ring, Madden said, “That is exactly their issue. I think they do have the ring financed. They were generously donated a healthy sum of money by Will Ospreay to get a ring there. Unlike in the SIMS, a ring doesn’t magically appear when you buy it. There’s taxes, it needs to be actually shipped. It’s a lot of wood, a lot of metal. Part of what we’re doing is trying to get some of those taxes cleared for them so that they can get that ring. One of the things we told them is a big part of the essence of what makes them special and what makes them stand out from what they do is the fact that they compete in the soft ground [and] is the fact that they have basically the soil of Africa impugned into the DNA of this company. It’s definitely going to be very good for them to actually have a ring for the sake of safety, for the sake of training…”
– Mansoor said the soft ground isn’t too bad to bump on and he’s bumped in worse rings.
– Mansoor said, “I think that a ring is good to have for training because at the end of the day, these kids want to be in AEW and WWE. They want to show up in professional wrestling companies around the world that obviously don’t operate on dirt.”
– Mansoor said, “They call them orphans in the tweets but they’re legit. They don’t have family…they sleep on the floor of the facility. They don’t own the land. They rent it out. The landlord wants to start a sugar cane plantation on the land.”
– Mansoor said that SGW founder Daniel Bumba has to pay the landlord and a GoFundMe helped them get their lease extended to December.
– Madden and Mansoor tried to get them subscribed to Twitter Blue so that they can monetize their videos but Twitter doesn’t accept the form of payment from Uganda.
– Madden noted how pro wrestling doesn’t exist in East Africa and SGW is on the cusp of something special in that region. The goal is to get them a bus so they can travel around Uganda and put on shows.
Also, you really should watch the interview to hear SGW’s story and the insane travel that Madden and Mansoor had to go through.
How you can help Soft Ground Wrestling:
Visit forurwear.com and buy the MXMXSGW crossover t-shirt. All of the proceeds go to SGW. The shirt was made by Madden. Also, on May 6th on Twitch.tv/greatblackotaku at 6 PM Eastern, Madden and Mansoor will do the “Achieve The Dream” stream where they will put on a live stream for hours with surprise guests to raise funds to help everyone at SGW get funds so that the kids can continue to learn. The funds will also help them get beds, food, and a means of transportation.
Check out Mansoor and Madden at Soft Ground Wrestling in the clips below.
Maximum male models destroy lord white and end his colonial aspects over Softground once and for all, they help coolman achieve the dream. pic.twitter.com/KSxZsOFNpd
— SGW @soft ground wrestling Uganda (@SGWug) April 18, 2024
This makes me so bloody happy https://t.co/SyeToQHBQS
— Will Ospreay • ウィル・オスプレイ (@WillOspreay) April 18, 2024
